Argentina in spotlight over hantavirus as authorities retrace footsteps of ship’s passengers

“Global climate change is altering everything, and that could also lead to hantavirus cases emerging in places where they had not previously occurred,” he said.

Even with the rise, Argentina remains within its historical annual average of about 100 cases – far below, for example, China and the Republic of Korea, where there are thousands of cases annually according to the WHO.

The vast majority of up to 100,000 annual hantavirus cases occur in Asia and Europe, but the key difference lies in the severity caused by different strains: while in those regions the fatality rate is up to 15%, in the Americas it can reach 50%.

Nevertheless, the WHO has said the risk of hantavirus to the general population is “absolutely low”, noting that person-to-person transmission does not occur easily.

Even though it is far from leading global case numbers, Argentina still has the highest total in Latin America, which scientists attribute to the climate crisis and ecological imbalances such as the loss of natural predators.

To determine where contamination on the MV Hondius may have occurred, Argentina’s health ministry plans to capture rodents for analysis along the route taken by the Dutch couple who first developed symptoms. They had been in the country since 27 November, making multiple car journeys, including trips to Chile and Uruguay, before boarding the ship on 1 April from the port of Ushuaia.

The ministry has reiterated that it is “not confirmed that the infection occurred in Argentina” and notes that in the province from which the ship departed, Tierra del Fuego, there has not been a confirmed case of hantavirus in the past 30 years.

On Thursday, the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Argentina should “reconsider” the decision taken by its president, Javier Milei, and formalised in March to leave the organisation, following the example of his US ally, Donald Trump.

Addressing the US and Argentina, Ghebreyesus said “viruses don’t care about our politics and they don’t care about our borders” and that “solidarity is our best immunity”.

For Ittig, Milei’s decision to leave the WHO is yet another facet of the problems caused by the libertarian’s “chainsaw” policy of deep spending cuts in science, education and healthcare, which could affect efforts to combat hantavirus.

“The experience and knowledge to tackle the hantavirus exist, and Argentina has them,” he said. “The problem is that investment is needed – and that is not what is happening now.”