Argentina investigates deadly link to deadly hantavirus on cruise ship | Health Issues

Health officials say they have caught and tested rats in the area taken by a Dutch family on a cruise who died of the virus.

Health officials in the South American country of Argentina are trying to determine whether their country is responsible for the deadly hantavirus outbreak that has killed several people in the Atlantic Ocean. a ship.

Argentina’s Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that it will send experts to the southern region of Ushuaia to catch and test rats, which often spread the disease, “in areas linked to the route” taken by the Dutch family who died. virus.

The number of three peoplea Dutch family and a German citizen, died of the plague. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that eight people in total are suspected of having contracted the virus.

“As of May 6, there are 8 cases, 3 of which have been confirmed as hantavirus in laboratory tests,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet.

“WHO will continue to work with countries to ensure that patients, their contacts, passengers and staff have the information and support they need to stay safe and prevent the spread.”

The ship, which had been off the coast of Cape Verde since Sunday, left for Spain on Wednesday after three people were evacuated, two of them seriously ill. Ghebreyesus said he would be taken to the Netherlands.

Health officials say the risk to the general public remains low and that the virus spreads more slowly than previous illnesses such as COVID-19.

“When we say close contact (in person-to-person transmission), we mean close contact, whether it’s sharing a bedroom or sharing a house, giving medical care, for example, (it’s) very different from COVID and very different from influenza,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO head of epidemiology and epidemic control, told Reuters reporters.

A hantavirus found in South America, called the Andes virus, can cause a serious and life-threatening illness called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.

Argentine authorities said they have sent the Andes RNA virus with instructions for analysis and support to laboratories in Spain, Senegal, South Africa, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Warmer temperatures are associated with an increase in the virus, perhaps as climate change expands the pool of rodents that can spread the disease. Argentina’s Ministry of Health reported on Tuesday that it has recorded 101 hantavirus infections since June 2025, almost double the number recorded at the same time last year.

“Argentina has become very hot due to climate change, and this has brought problems, such as dengue and yellow fever, as well as new plants that produce seeds for mice to multiply,” Hugo Pizzi, a well-known expert on infectious diseases in Argentina, told the Associated Press news agency. “There is no doubt that over time, the hantavirus is spreading more and more.”