Tierra del Fuego Says 48-Hour Ushuaia Stay Was Almost Zero Hantavirus Risk
Updated
Updated · CP24 · May 9
Tierra del Fuego Says 48-Hour Ushuaia Stay Was Almost Zero Hantavirus Risk
12 articles · Updated · CP24 · May 9
Juan Petrina, Tierra del Fuego’s epidemiology director, said the Dutch man who died in the MV Hondius outbreak was almost certainly not infected during his 48 hours in Ushuaia before boarding on April 1.
April 6 symptom onset came just five days later, far short of the World Health Organization’s one-to-six-week incubation period for hantavirus, which is typically two to three weeks.
Petrina also said the Andes strain—the only hantavirus known to spread person to person—has not been detected in Tierra del Fuego since 1996, and officials could not confirm reports the couple visited an Ushuaia dump.
The Dutch couple had traveled through Chile, Uruguay and other parts of Argentina before the cruise; WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said they visited places where the rat species carrying the Andes strain was present, while Chile has ruled itself out.
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