90-Second Read: Argentine researchers collect rodents for Hantavirus tests

Argentine scientists on Tuesday began collecting rodents in the woods around Ushuaia to search for carriers of Hantavirus in the area from which the virus-stricken MV Hondius set sail.The Hantavirus o... The samples will be tested for the Andes train of Hantavirus detected in several of the Hondius's passengers -- the only known strain to spread between people. The Hantavirus outbreak aboard the Hondius, which set sail from Ushuaia on April 1, triggered a global health scare. The first of three cruise ship passengers to die from the rodent-borne virus, a Dutchman, spent 48 hours in Ushuaia with his wife before embarking on the cruise, raising suspicions they became infected in Ushuaia.

Three passengers died from the virus, for which no vaccines nor specific treatments exist. The World Health Organization has sought to reassure the world that the outbreak is not a repeat of the Covid pandemic. The province has not had a case of Hantavirus since its reporting became mandatory 30 years ago. Local scientists are divided on whether the rodent in question is the long-tailed rat (Oligoryzomys longicaudatus) or a subspecies, the Magellanic long-tailed rat (Oligoryzomys magellanicus).

Wearing gloves and masks they placed the traps in sacks and then took them away to take blood and tissue samples that will be sent to Malbran's headquarters in Buenos Aires for testing. The scientists refused on Tuesday to comment on their work but appeared pleased with their yield. The scientists will continue laying up to 150 traps each night throughout the week in order to glean a sufficiently large sample for the results to be representative. The Andes strain is however present in provinces over 1,000 kilometers away in the north, such as Rio Negro and Chubut.