Amanda Gillies

It can be fatal.

This feels like deja vu.

A deadly virus, contact tracing, alarming global headlines and countries on high alert.

It started with Hunter virus, now it's Ebola, which is currently spreading faster in the Democratic Republic of Congo than responders can contain it.

Hi, I'm Amanda Gillies and today on The Detail, I look at both headlining viruses, Hunter virus and Ebola.

What exactly are they and how do they spread?

What are the symptoms, the treatments, the response?

And what does it actually mean for New Zealand?

Should we be worried?

Are we prepared?

As a Kiwi in New Zealand, how worried should I be about catching either Hantavirus or Ebola right now?

I'll have Michael Baker's full answer later in the podcast.

Michael is an epidemiologist and the professor of public health at Otago University in Wellington, but is based in Boston at the moment on a Fulbright scholarship researching infectious diseases at Harvard University.

He has been closely following the outbreaks of both viruses and has just written a paper on the Hunter virus.

And as we chatted, another case of it was being reported.

So talk me through it, Michael.

Hunter virus, what actually is it?

The strain that is making global headlines is called Andes.

Gosh, it reminds me so much of COVID.

But with Hantavirus, I mean, how quickly can it spread?