90-Second Read: No Hantavirus found in Mendoza Province after tests

Hantavirus probe in western Mendoza Province did not find any virus-carrying rodents, announces Argentina's Health Ministry. The MV Hondius cruise ship was sailing from Ushuaia in Argentina to Cape Verde when its journey was disrupted after three passengers died following a Hantavirus outbreak. According to the University of Mendoza, the province "currently has no confirmed local circulation of the Andes virus." Tierra del Fuego Province has meanwhile not had a case of Hantavirus since its reporting became mandatory 30 years ago.

Attention soon focused on Argentina, where the Andes Hantavirus strain is endemic in several regions, as the potential origin of the outbreak. The investigation in Mendoza follows a similar probe in the Tierra del Fuego province, from where the ship set sail on April 1. Scientists did not capture the rodent known to carry Hantavirus in the second province.

The team set over 250 traps in different areas on the outskirts of Malargue, a city visited by a Dutch cruise ship passenger who died of the disease. The World Health Organization has to date recorded 13 confirmed cases linked to the outbreak, including the three people who died. Scientists from the ANLIS-Malbrán Institute, Argentina's leading center for infectious diseases, worked alongside experts from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the week-long mission.