Argentina Expands Hantavirus Outbreak Probe to Mendoza Province

Argentinian health authorities are broadening their investigation into the source of a fatal hantavirus outbreak that occurred in April, extending the probe to the western province of Mendoza. The Ministry of Health announced Friday that the focus will now include field studies in Malargue, Mendoza, from June 8-12. Scientists from Argentina's Malbran Institute and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will participate in trapping and testing rodents to pinpoint the virus's origin. The outbreak, associated with the Andes hantavirus strain endemic to parts of Argentina and Chile but not Mendoza, sickened at least 11 people and claimed three lives aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius after its departure from Ushuaia in April. Investigators are working to reconstruct the chain of transmission, including tracing the movements of a Dutch couple believed to be among the first infected. While experts suspect exposure to infected rodent droppings or urine, Ushuaia authorities have rejected claims that the virus originated there, noting no hantavirus cases in Tierra del Fuego for three decades. The World Health Organization has stated the outbreak does not pose a pandemic threat, despite the Andes strain's high mortality rate and lack of a vaccine.

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It infected at least 11 people aboard the ship, killing three, after it departed from the southern Argentine city of Ushuaia in April.