How worried should we be right now?

Well, it is a serious infection, if indeed that's what it is.

It doesn't spread as readily as influenza, for example, but it can spread from person to person.

And that's why they have all the contacts now under quarantine and very close observation.

If we catch the illness early, we do have antibiotics as well as supportive care that can treat these infections very successfully.

Are the antibiotics easy to get, doctor? Well, the antibiotics are available in Russia.

There's no doubt about that.

So if this starts to spread, do we have enough antibiotics that everybody who needs them could get them quickly? And is this just an entirely different situation than what we dealt with with COVID?

Are these numbers concerning, and is announcing a state of emergency unusual?

Well, of course, 108 cases is an, is astounding and depressing.

Even one case of measles is, uh, a matter of concern because it's a completely preventable disease, and because it can make even, in an uncomplicated fashion, a child really miserable for a week and a half.

Even more important, measles can be associated with complications.

Middle ear infections and then pneumonia.

Pneumonia's often what brings children to the hospital, can sometimes lead to death, and one in 1,000 children who have measles will develop encephalitis, brain swelling, and that can also lead to death.

You know, we've had several deaths due to measles in the United States already this year.

What factors are contributing to this New York outbreak, and what steps can individuals and communities take to protect themselves?

But from what we know, Doctor, what actually happened on the ground here?

here?Well, the difficulty is, of course, Carter, that we don't really know.

Transparency is not there.

We would like to know.

A 28-year-old research technician working in a plague laboratory developed pneumonia and died.

That's a pretty young person to die of pneumonia.

So they were concerned that she might have pneumonic plague, having acquired it during work.

Can you explain what this disease is, and then the second part of that, why you are confident that there will not be a broader spread?

I can't tell if it's just anecdotal evidence that makes it feel worse than usual or if something has actually changed.

Well, Kelly, for sure this is a v- very large outbreak, and the illness itself, if you happen to contract it, is very troublesome because it does, uh, produce diarrhea, vomiting, feeling poorly, abdominal cramps, a little bit of fever.

It can get better by itself, but then it can recur and get better and then recur again.

So it's very, very annoying.

Fortunately, we can treat it with antibiotics, and I would say very quickly there's no knowledge that we can transmit it from person to person.

So it had to come from somewhere.

The disease detectives are looking at that from the CDC and in all the state health departments that are involved.

Why is it taking longer than usual? Why is this worse than usual? Why c- why can't we get an answer?

First, can you tell us what hantavirus is and how people usually get it?

Sure.

Hantavirus is a virus that, uh, lives in small rodents, and usually in warmer parts of the world.

For example, our southwestern United States.

The rodents, uh, shed the virus through their saliva, their urine, and their feces, and then it can dry up.

If humans get into that environment and stir up the dust and create an aerosol, they can breathe in the virus, and it can get down into their lungs.

It can also get on their hands, and then they can transmit it to themselves, uh, that way.

It's not like something new that's just mutated, so this is not a new COVID.

In your view, has this outbreak been handled appropriately so far?

I think so far, very, very well.

This very unusual diagnosis was actually made while the people were at sea, and then the passengers were put into isolation while at sea in order to prevent further, if any, person-to-person transmission.

Local health authorities have been notified of everyone who disembarked.

Those people are being monitored carefully.

So I think this is an example of international collaboration.

Dealing with what we trust will be a confined circumstance.

But why would the ship allow nearly 40 people to disembark when you have this virus? Was that a good idea?