Argentina in spotlight over hantavirus as authorities retrace footsteps of ship’s passengers

An outbreak in rural communities 30 years ago in the Patagonia area of Argentina led scientists, for the first time, to document person-to-person transmission of hantavirus, which until then had been known only to spread through contact with rodents. Nearly a decade ago another outbreak, also in Patagonia, provided detailed evidence of inter-human transmission when an infected 68-year-old rural worker attended a birthday party in a small village. The infection spread and resulted in 11 deaths. These cases are being recalled after three people died from the virus on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius that departed from Argentina bound for Cape Verde. Although it is not yet confirmed how the passengers were infected, a hypothesis being investigated by the World Health Organization (WHO), which has already categorically ruled out an epidemic, is that transmission occurred before boarding, placing the South American country under global scrutiny. Tests on passengers who survived also confirmed they were infected with the Andes strain, the only strain in which human-to-human spread has been documented and which is found mainly in parts of Argentina and Chile. However, Argentinian scientists who have studied the virus for decades agree that despite a slight recent increase in cases, Argentina is not facing anything significantly new or different from previous decades. …