Additional Coverage:
Argentine Scientists Conduct Field Study to Trace Source of Hantavirus Outbreak Linked to Cruise Ship
USHUAIA, Argentina – In a focused effort to identify the origin of a deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship last month, Argentine researchers have initiated a field investigation by trapping rodents in the forests surrounding Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the country. This area had previously been considered free of the hantavirus.
On Tuesday, scientists equipped with protective gloves and masks inspected 150 box traps set overnight, collecting deceased rodents which were then transported to a temporary laboratory for blood sampling. This marks the first stage of Argentina’s broader inquiry into the hantavirus cluster that resulted in three fatalities and multiple illnesses among passengers, prompting an international contact-tracing operation.
The team, affiliated with the Malbrán Institute-Argentina’s premier infectious disease research center-will continue trapping for several days before sending samples to their main Buenos Aires laboratory for hantavirus testing, a process expected to take up to a month. Officials have maintained a cautious stance, providing limited details on the investigation.
Martín Alfaro, spokesperson for Tierra del Fuego’s health ministry, confirmed the trap captures aligned with expectations. The initiative follows the Argentine Health Ministry’s decision nearly two weeks ago to deploy the Malbrán team to Ushuaia, a renowned tourist gateway to Antarctica often called the “end of the world.”
Uncertainties Surrounding the Hantavirus Investigation
Notably, hantavirus cases have never been documented in Ushuaia or the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Meanwhile, health authorities in northern Patagonia-where the virus is endemic-question the initial government theory that infection originated at an Ushuaia landfill visited by the first identified victims, a Dutch couple who were avid bird watchers.
The couple had concluded a multi-week trip through Chile and Argentina with several days in Ushuaia before embarking on the MV Hondius on April 1. Both have since passed away, complicating efforts to trace the precise location of infection.
The Andes virus, responsible for hantavirus infections in this region, is primarily transmitted through inhalation of contaminated particles from the feces and urine of the long-tailed pygmy rice rat, or “colilargo,” which thrives in northern Patagonia’s forests. This rodent species is absent across the Strait of Magellan in Tierra del Fuego, where the environment is considered too cold and isolated. However, a subspecies exists near Ushuaia, and its potential role in virus transmission has yet to be studied.
Local health officials, cautious to protect their province’s tourism industry, stress that Tierra del Fuego should not be presumed the outbreak’s source. They emphasize the importance of this investigation to determine whether hantavirus is present locally, especially amid concerns about climate change expanding the habitat of rodent carriers.
“The province has never conducted this type of testing before,” Alfaro noted. “It’s important to definitively rule out the possibility of transmission occurring here.”
Recent years have seen a rise in hantavirus cases across Argentina, a development scientists link to the expanding range of colilargos driven by global warming and increased human activity in natural habitats. The outcome of this investigation may provide critical insights into the virus’s evolving epidemiology in southern South America.