Hantavirus-hit cruise ship passengers pose little danger to others, German virologists say

VIDEO SHOWS: VIROLOGIST AT BERLIN’S CHARITE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, PROF. JAN FELIX DREXLER AND VIROLOGIST AT HAMBURG’S BERNHARD-NOCHT-INSTITUTE FOR TROPICAL MEDICINE, PROF. JONAS SCHMIDT-CHANASIT COMMENTING IN ENGLISH ON HANTAVIRUS, ALSO CALLING IT ANDES VIRUS

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: BERLIN, GERMANY (MAY 7, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1 VARIOUS OF LABORATORIAN WORKING IN LAB

2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) VIROLOGIST AT BERLIN’S CHARITE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, JAN FELIX DREXLER, SAYING:

“We know that it can occasionally spread from person to person, but you need close contact for this to occur. The virus is not as efficiently spread as SARS-CoV-2 or as noroviruses.”

3. VARIOUS OF LABORATORIAN WORKING IN LAB

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) VIROLOGIST AT BERLIN’S CHARITE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, JAN FELIX DREXLER, SAYING:

"Hantavirus infections generally in our region cause very mild symptoms that are flu-like, mostly some fever and dizziness. The worst-case scenario is hemorrhagic fever with kidney damage in the Far East and involvement of the heart and lung in the American hantavirus infections.”

5. VARIOUS OF LABORATORIAN WORKING IN LAB

6. DREXLER SPEAKING TO REPORTER

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) VIROLOGIST AT BERLIN’S CHARITE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, JAN FELIX DREXLER, SAYING:

“On the cruise vessel, for sure, everybody will get tested to avoid additional secondary infections and to release people and let them go home because they're, for sure, not having a very nice time on the cruise vessel at the moment, even those that are not sick. And, of course, efforts should be made to develop protective vaccines.”

8. VIROLOGIST AT HAMBURG’S BERNHARD-NOCHT-INSTITUTE FOR TROPICAL MEDICINE, JONAS SCHMIDT-CHANASIT, WALKING PAST IN STREET

9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) VIROLOGIST AT HAMBURG’S BERNHARD-NOCHT-INSTITUTE FOR TROPICAL MEDICINE, JONAS SCHMIDT-CHANASIT, SAYING:

“No, I think people don't need to worry. We have to separate the situation on a cruise ship. This is really a terrible situation because the Andes virus infection is a very severe infection that has a high case fatality rate of up to 50%. But if the patients are outside of the ship, so under barrier nursing and hospital conditions like in Germany, Netherlands, or Spain, I would say everybody is safe, so it's not a risk for the whole population.”

10. SCHMIDT-CHANASIT SPEAKING TO REPORTERS

11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) VIROLOGIST AT HAMBURG’S BERNHARD-NOCHT-INSTITUTE FOR TROPICAL MEDICINE, JONAS SCHMIDT-CHANASIT, SAYING:

"A cruise ship is really different from the situation on the land or in the hospital, so it's a real incubator. You have less space, and the contacts are more close, so the probability of transmission is much higher if you are not aware that there is a highly infectious pathogen.”

12. VARIOUS OF LABORATORIAN WORKING IN LAB AT CHARITE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL