Argentina investigates link to deadly hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship

Health officials say they will capture and test rodents in area taken by Dutch couple on a cruise who died from virus.Health authorities of the South American nation of Argentina are working to determine whether their country is the source of a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has claimed several lives on board an Atlantic cruise ship.The Argentinian Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that it would send experts to the far south area of Ushuaia to capture and test rodents, which typically transmit the disease, “in areas linked to the route” taken by a Dutch couple who died from the virus.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Three people evacuated from hantavirus-hit cruise ship in the Atlanticlist 2 of 3What is hantavirus, suspected in deaths of three people on cruise ship?list 3 of 3Spain agrees to let hantavirus-hit cruise ship dock in Canary Islandsend of listA total of three people, the Dutch couple and a German national, have died from the outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that a total of eight people are suspected of having contracted the virus.“As of 6 May, there are 8 cases, 3 of whom are confirmed as hantavirus by laboratory testing,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post.“WHO will continue to work with countries to ensure that the patients, contacts, passengers and crew have the information and support they need to stay safe and prevent spread.”The cruise ship, stuck off the coast of Cape Verde since Sunday, departed for Spain on Wednesday after three people had been evacuated, two of them seriously ill. Ghebreyesus said they would be taken to the Netherlands.Health authorities have said that the wider public risk remains low and that the virus spreads much more slowly than previous diseases such as COVID-19.“When we say close contact [for human-to-human transmission], we mean very close physical contact, whether it’s sharing a bunk room or sharing a cabin, providing medical care, for example, [that is] very, very different to COVID and very different to influenza,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director of epidemic and pandemic management, told the news service Reuters.