Is the MV Hondius cruise ship ground zero for the next pandemic?
About this episode
The episode discusses the outbreak of Hantavirus on the MV Hondius cruise ship and its implications for public health.
In early April, the luxury cruise liner MV Hondius set sail from Argentina across the Atlantic ocean, but things did not go as planned. Since then, three people have died and three others had to be evacuated for emergency medical treatment-- including the ship's doctor-- as they deal with an outbreak of Hantavirus. Now, passengers are still quarantined on the ship, as the World Health Organization tries to contain the disease. In this episode of the Big Story Podcast, host Caryn Ceolin speaks with Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases expert out of the Toronto General Hospital, about hantavirus: what we know, what we don't know, and if this could be the start of the next pandemic. Then, Caryn speaks with Dr. Muhammad Morshed from the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control about what might've happened on the ship that started the outbreak, and what we know about the world's first documented outbreak of this unnerving disease on a cruise ship.
More episodes of The Big Story
- Big Headlines: MV Hondius to dock this weekend and Trump describes strikes on Iran as 'love tap'
- Politics on the pitch: geopolitical tensions shaping the World Cup
- Big Headlines: Canadians onboard ship hit by Hantavirus outbreak set to be repatriated
- Big Headlines: A new Hantavirus case in Switzerland has been connected to the cruise ship dealing with an outbreak
- How can Canada unclog its housing market?
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Big Story podcast page.