Wendy Zuckerman

Producer Michelle Dang asked Professor Michelle Harkins about this.

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That means, theoretically, some of the people who were on the boat and then left without being quarantined could be infected right now.

Wandering around, breathing, coughing, listening to podcasts.

So after the break, could this lead to the next pandemic?

Coming up.

Welcome back today on the show, Hunter Virus.

How freaked out do we need to be?

So here's where we're at right now.

We know that this virus has the potential to spread from person to person.

And now the question is, how quickly can it spread?

Could this lead to the next pandemic?

And to find out more, we called out Professor Anne Sheehy, a virologist and immunologist at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts.

She's a friend of the show.

We've had her on before.

And Anne told us that when she heard about this Hunter virus outbreak.

I don't want my virologist saying, oh, no.

But don't worry, because by the end of this episode, you'll be thinking, oh, yes, because you'll know more science.

And that's always great.

Okay, so as we mentioned, this version of hunter virus that's roaming around the cruise ship is the only one we know that can transmit from person to person, which makes it different to the one that we heard about from the doctor, Michelle, which was called Synombre.