Argentina expands hantavirus probe, sending teams to trap and test rats
in Mendoza
[June 06, 2026]
By ISABEL DEBRE
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina on Friday said it was expanding
its investigation into the origins of the hantavirus outbreak that
struck an Atlantic cruise ship last month, sending scientists to trap
and test rats in the western province of Mendoza while lab results are
pending from the southernmost city of Ushuaia.
Argentine authorities said biologists from the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention were joining the mission next week in Mendoza.
The rare outbreak on the MV Hondius was caused by the Andes hantavirus,
a disease carried by rodents endemic to Argentina and Chile and the only
hantavirus thought to be able to spread between people in some cases.
Reconstructing the chain of transmission is difficult work, and
Argentine authorities say it may never be possible to pinpoint exactly
where the first known victims — a Dutch couple who died in April —
contracted the virus before boarding the cruise in Ushuaia. But experts
say getting to the bottom of the outbreak will offer valuable
information about how the rare virus spread and carry important lessons
for management of the disease.
As repatriated cruise passengers from more than 20 countries have
disembarked and entered specialized quarantine centers, epidemiologists
are examining the 11 confirmed hantavirus cases, including the schedules
of the three people killed, to better understand the chain of
transmission.
Argentine scientists are working to retrace the path of the Dutch
tourists, believing that the original source of the onboard virus to be
the man's exposure to rodent droppings or urine during their monthslong
trip across Argentina and Chile before the ship’s departure The typical
incubation period before symptoms appear is around three weeks but can
extend up to eight.
Shortly after news of the outbreak emerged, Argentina's Health Ministry
identified Ushuaia as a possible source of the contagion and last month
sent investigators from the Malbran government research institute to
collect rodent samples in various wooded areas around the city.
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 Local authorities in the
tourism-dependent city of Ushuaia, famed for its location at “the
end of the world,” have angrily disputed that the virus originated
there. While the Andes hantavirus infects a few dozen people every
year in the Patagonian region of Argentina further north, it has
never been detected in Ushuaia or the wider archipelago of Tierra
del Fuego.
The Health Ministry said Friday that it's still awaiting lab results
from those tests to determine whether the couple contracted the
virus there.
On Friday, the ministry said specialists from Malbran, together with
U.S. counterparts at the CDC, were preparing to test rodents for the
hantavirus in the city of Malargüe, Mendoza from June 8-12.
A spokesperson for the Malbran Institute confirmed that the Dutch
couple visited Malargüe as they drove through the winemaking region
of Mendoza to the northeastern province of Misiones during the last
leg of their trip in Argentina.
The head of Malbran, Claudia Perandones, met with CDC investigators
in Argentina on Friday to discuss the operation, which she said
would involve teams in extensive protective equipment taking blood
samples from dead rodents and transferring the material to the main
laboratory in Buenos Aires for testing. Authorities have said test
results could take up to a month.
The World Health Organization has made clear that, given the low
risk of transmission, the hantavirus will not become a pandemic
threat.
Still, the Andes hantavirus has raised concerns around the world due
to its mortality rate, as high as 30%, and the current lack of
treatment and vaccines.
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