Wendy Zuckerman

But with the outbreak on the cruise ship, something different seems to be unfolding.

So we think that maybe the first infection, patient zero, got exposed this way that we've just described, through aerosolized rat crap dust.

Here's Neil again.

Now, one or two people getting hunter virus directly from breathing in rodent poo or pee, this is not surprising.

Because, like we said, hunter virus is around rodents in a lot of places, including Argentina.

What's weird is that most of the time, when someone gets hunter virus from a rodent, it stops with them.

Most types of hunter virus cannot spread from person to person.

Except the version of hantavirus that showed up on the cruise ship.

It's called the Andes virus, and it can.

And that is probably exactly what happened on the cruise ship.

And something that's worrying a lot of people right now is that we might not know everyone who's been infected.

Because this virus, it can hang around your body for a while before you start showing any symptoms.

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?