Ushuaia Rejects 3-Death Hantavirus Link as MV Hondius Probe Focuses on Birding Trip
Updated
Updated · NBC News · May 10
Ushuaia Rejects 3-Death Hantavirus Link as MV Hondius Probe Focuses on Birding Trip
10 articles · Updated · NBC News · May 10
Tierra del Fuego officials and local birding guides pushed back after the MV Hondius outbreak killed 3 people and sickened 5, saying fears centered on Ushuaia and its landfill are overstated.
WHO said the first confirmed case may have been exposed to rodent-borne Andes hantavirus during a birding trip before the April 1 departure from Ushuaia, with evidence pointing to later human-to-human spread onboard.
Provincial health chief Juan Petrina said Tierra del Fuego has recorded 0 hantavirus cases since at least 2000 and argued the carrier rodent is scarce there, making local infection unlikely.
The landfill theory gained traction after investigators cited it as a leading hypothesis, but guides said birders view the site from outside a fenced perimeter and do not enter.
The source of the initial infection remains unconfirmed, even as the strain was described as near identical to one behind Argentina's 2018/19 outbreak that caused 34 infections and 11 deaths.
Did a bird-watching trip at a landfill unleash the deadly hantavirus outbreak on the Antarctic cruise ship?
Is the boom in 'last chance tourism' creating new pathways for deadly viruses to emerge from the wild?