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BBC Inside Science

The science behind hantavirus

May 14, 2026 · 26m

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Following three deaths linked to the deadly hantavirus disease on a cruise ship this month, the scientific community is racing to answer the many unknown questions surrounding the outbreak. Tom Whipple speaks to Dr Emma Hodcroft, an epidemiologist at the University of Basel and co-founder of Pathoplexus, an online database of pathogen genomes, to explore what the new hantavirus genomic sequences can tell us. He also hears from Dr Nicole Luri, Executive Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response from the NGO The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI), to hear what steps would be taken if the hantavirus strain had the potential to become a pandemic, and how far their "100 days"…