Argentine authorities investigating the origin of a fatal hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship that departed last month commenced trapping rodents in the forests surrounding Ushuaia on Tuesday. The goal was to detect any potential presence of the rat-borne virus in an area previously believed to be unaffected.
Wearing bright blue gloves and surgical masks, scientists checked 150 box traps set out the previous night, collecting dead rats into black plastic bags for transportation to a makeshift lab. This initiative marked the beginning of fieldwork in Argentina’s broader inquiry into the outbreak that hit the MV Hondius, resulting in three fatalities and multiple illnesses, including a case of a Canadian passenger.
The investigative team, led by the state-backed Malbrán Institute, plans to repeat the trapping routine for the next three days before transferring the samples to their main laboratory in Buenos Aires for hantavirus testing. The testing process may extend up to one month, with officials refraining from disclosing further specifics.
MartÃn Alfaro, the spokesperson for the local health ministry of Tierra del Fuego, affirmed the capture of the anticipated specimens during the operation. The efforts follow an announcement by the Argentine Health Ministry about dispatching the Malbrán Institute team to Ushuaia nearly two weeks ago.
Questions have arisen regarding the investigation, as the hantavirus has not been previously documented in Ushuaia or the broader Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Discrepancies exist with provincial officials in Patagonia, where the virus is endemic, arguing that the initial infected individuals, a Dutch couple, did not visit during the suspected transmission period.
The Andes virus, prevalent in southern Chile and Argentina, primarily spreads through exposure to contaminated air from the long-tailed pygmy rice rat. While the colilargo species is absent in Tierra del Fuego due to its cold and isolated nature, a subspecies resides in Ushuaia’s surrounding forests, prompting researchers to investigate its potential as a hantavirus transmitter.
Health authorities in Tierra del Fuego, refuting claims of their province as the outbreak source, emphasize the importance of determining if hantavirus exists there amid global warming concerns. Targeted rat-trapping in areas with the colilargo subspecies aims to rule out local transmission possibilities, given the expanding range of colilargos attributed to climate change and human activity.
The surge in hantavirus cases in Argentina in recent years is linked to the expanding habitat of colilargos due to environmental changes and human interventions.