00:00Let's bring in an absolute specialist in this, Paul Hunter, specialist in virology, also professor in medicine at the University
00:07of East Anglia.
00:09Professor, thank you so much for your time. It's great to talk to you.
00:13Looking at the way authorities have actually been managing this outbreak, does it suggest to you that real lessons from
00:19COVID have been learned?
00:23I mean, that's always difficult to answer.
00:27I think we probably wouldn't have been as aggressive at managing this if it had been happening eight years ago.
00:38Antivirus is actually not a new virus.
00:41There are cases all around the world, including Europe, the Far East, the Americas, but not Australia.
00:48And we've had outbreaks of this disease in the past.
00:53I think what we're seeing is a degree of care, in part, I think, to reassure people that the governments
01:04are doing as much as they can to protect and prevent subsequent cases.
01:09But also because assuming things aren't going to get worse is not always the correct decision, even when you're early
01:23on in an outbreak.
01:24This is so true. There were so many skeptics at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
01:27But if we look at this, as you say, this virus is not new and COVID-19 was new.
01:33But with this virus, up to four in 10 people who develop antivirus symptoms die.
01:39So it is much more deadly than COVID.
01:41And yet the risk is still very low. Why?
01:45Yeah, I think the risk is two issues here.
01:48The first is the lethality of the virus.
01:52And clearly, the virus is quite a lethal infection, or at least it is lethal once people get ill.
01:59The other is how likely is it to spread?
02:01And I think the risk is deemed to be low because it's considered that it's actually very unlikely that it's
02:07going to spread within the general population.
02:11The situation on board a ship on a cruise liner like this is somewhat different to what you would expect
02:16when people are at home and going about their normal daily lives.
02:20People are squeezed together in an environment much more closely than they would be back home.
02:26And we know that cruise liners are places where outbreaks of infection can spread quite quickly and can be difficult
02:36to control.
02:37And also, you know, a lot of elderly people on the ship.
02:41And as with COVID, the older, more frail, can be more vulnerable.
02:45While we know a lot about Hunter virus, we don't have a vaccine, as I understand.
02:50We don't have antiviral treatments.
02:52It starts as a flu, but it becomes a pulmonary viral infection.
02:57What can we do to manage this?
02:59Yeah, well, I think with many viruses like this, the issue is keeping people alive till their body is able
03:07to fight off the virus by itself.
03:10And with the America's version of Hunter virus, which is different to what you see in Asia and in Europe,
03:18the primary disease is a pneumonia.
03:24So essentially what you're what you're doing is trying to make sure that people continue to breathe.
03:31You give them artificial ventilation.
03:34You manage their fluids and electrolytes up until the point that they start fighting off the virus themselves.
03:41And and in part, I think some of the high mortality that we see with this virus is because people
03:49are not necessarily able to get access to high quality, supportive medical care in the areas where this virus is
04:00generally found.
04:01Thank you so much. Really interesting perspective there.
04:04That is Paul Hunter, specialist in virology, also professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia.
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