In Brief
- Authorities are working to identify the source of a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, singling out its last port of departure.
- Argentina's ministry of health says it will send teams to capture and test rodents in the southern city of Ushuaia.
As countries around the world work to safely quarantine passengers who were on board the cruise ship at the heart of a deadly hantavirus outbreak, authorities are urgently working to trace the outbreak's origins.
Eight cases have been linked to the outbreak that has killed three people, after the rare, rodent-born virus was detected last week on Dutch cruise ship the MV Hondius.
The last passengers have been evacuated from the ship, prompting the cruise's captain Jan Dobrogowski to thank the crew and guests for their patience and kindness.
"The past few weeks have been extremely challenging for us all," he said.
"What touched me most ... is the kindness you showed to each other."
Four Australians, one Australian resident and a New Zealand citizen have arrived in the Netherlands and will be flown to Perth for three weeks of quarantine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that while it does not expect the hantavirus cluster to trigger a global outbreak, authorities are still eager to know how the virus made its way onto the ship.
Eyes have fallen on Argentina, where the Dutch couple who first fell ill — and later died — boarded the cruise.
The virus is endemic in parts of the country, with the country's Ministry of Health reporting 101 infections since July last year.
The Australian government has since updated its travel advice for the country, saying the virus "continues to be a risk in Argentina" but advising travellers to exercise normal safety precautions.
Ushuaia officials deny link
Despite being endemic in parts of the world, the outbreak's origin has become contentious, with local authorities in one part of Argentina accusing the country's government of scapegoating the town.
Hantavirus mainly spreads to humans who come into contact with the urine, droppings or saliva of infected mice and rats.
But person-to-person spread of the Andes strain of the virus — believed to be behind the current outbreak — is possible, prompting officials to trace the Dutch couple's four-month journey through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
According to the WHO, the virus' incubation period is between one and six weeks.
Chilean and Uruguayan authorities have denied any link to the outbreak, given the virus' incubation period, and particular focus has fallen on Ushuaia, Argentina's southernmost city, where the MV Hondius departed from.
Affectionately known as 'the end of the world', Ushuaia is located on the island of Tierra del Fuego.
It's a key departure point for vessels heading towards Antarctica and a common stop on tours of the rugged Patagonia region.
Authorities have combed through the couple's itinerary and have suggested they may have come into contact with the virus while birdwatching at a landfill site near the city.
The Argentinian health ministry has also announced it's sending experts to the island to capture and test rodents in the area.
But local authorities have accused the government of carrying out a "smear campaign" on the town, pointing out the island has never recorded a case of the hantavirus, let alone the Andes variant involved in the ship outbreak.
According to the Associated Press, local authorities in Ushuaia discovered the purported connection to the outbreak through the media.
"Now the whole world is associating Ushuaia, and cruise travel, with a lethal virus, and if this continues, reservations for next season are honestly going to plummet because nobody will want to be exposed," said Rubén Rafael, the former health minister of Tierra del Fuego.
"Ushuaia's reputation as a tourist destination is suffering badly."
The WHO says it is sequencing the virus strain involved in the outbreak and comparing it with strains circulating in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
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