Hantavirus cruise ship outbreak linked to bird-watching trip in Argentina

WorldHealth & Fitness
7 May 2026 • 12:05 AM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Hantavirus cruise ship outbreak linked to bird-watching trip in Argentina

  • Argentine authorities are now focusing on a bird-watching excursion in Ushuaia as the likely origin of the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship that departed from the southern city.
  • The government's leading hypothesis suggests a Dutch couple contracted the virus during this outing before embarking.
  • Two officials, speaking anonymously due to the ongoing investigation and their lack of authorisation to brief the media, indicated the couple visited a landfill during their tour. It is there they may have come into contact with rodents carrying the infection.
  • This new line of inquiry comes despite previous assurances from authorities that Ushuaia and the wider Tierra del Fuego province had no recorded history of hantavirus cases.
  • Eight suspected cases of hantavirus have now been linked to the boat, the World Health Organisation said in an update on Wednesday.

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