A health expert in southern Tierra del Fuego Province says it’s “unlikely” that the deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship originated in Ushuaia, from where the vessel departed.
The hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius, which left three dead during a voyage through remote Atlantic islands, originated in Ushuaia, an authority from the Argentine “end of the world” city told AFP on Tuesday.
The MV Hondius, which was operating a route between Ushuaia and Cape Verde with 88 passengers and 59 crew members of 23 nationalities, is under health alert due to suspicion of a hantavirus outbreak, a disease transmitted by rodents.
To date, there have been three deaths, two of which were confirmed as hantavirus-related.
“For us it is very unlikely. To suspect a local source of infection, we would need to have some case of hantavirus in the province, and that is not the case,” said Juan Petrina, director of Epidemiology and Environmental Health for the Tierra del Fuego Province government.
He said that all required health checks were carried out while the ship was in the port of icy Ushuaia, the provincial capital located around 3,000 km south of Buenos Aires.
The cruise ship departed Ushuaia on April 1 at 2.30pm local time (17:30 GMT) bound for remote Atlantic islands.
“Each company operating a cruise requires health information from passengers and crew because they are travelling to inhospitable places where there are no medical facilities,” said Petrina.
Before docking, the captain and the ship’s doctor submit a situation report and inform authorities of any patients showing symptoms.
In addition, the Border Health department, which reports to the national government, carries out its own inspections.
“Each vessel has a rodent control plan with external audits. In this case, the ship underwent that inspection without any issues. Mooring lines were even fitted with anti-rodent discs,” Petrina said.
The official also downplayed the likelihood of infection through food or through people who had contact with the cruise ship.
In Tierra del Fuego, there are no recorded cases of hantavirus because the type of mouse that transmits the disease does not live in the region, he added.
“The long-tailed mouse, identified as the main transmitter of the virus, is not found in Tierra del Fuego, and there is scientific debate regarding the presence of a subspecies that could also act as a hantavirus reservoir,” the official clarified.
According to the provincial health portfolio, the endemic area for hantavirus in the south of the country is mainly located in the mountain ranges of the southern provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro and Chubut.
The national epidemiological information available, cited in the same statement, shows that since January 2026, 32 cases of hantavirus infection have been reported in the country, none in Tierra del Fuego.
– TIMES/AFP
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