As passengers aboard the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius are being repatriated, Argentine health authorities are investigating the steps of a Dutch couple who died in the outbreak -- a trail that leads them to southern Argentina.
The Dutch-flagged cruise ship departed Ushuaia, capital of Argentina's southernmost and least populous province of Tierra del Fuego, early in April. On Friday, local authorities denied that the disease originated there. However, the region where the ship began its journey lies within the known endemic zone for the virus.
The Andes virus, a type of hantavirus, is found in South America. Argentina has recorded cases since the 1990s, including an outbreak in 2018.
The total number of cases over the past eight years remains under 650, but the pattern is changing.
Official figures show the number of cases recorded so far this year is already around double the number of infections from the whole of 2025.
Despite images of ships in quarantine off the coast of Africa, experts say this is not a disease that spreads like COVID-19.
"There is some mistake and misinterpretation that this is the beginning of a severe epidemic outbreak. I am quite sure it is not. The disease has a limit. If you isolate the patients and you treat the patient early, the disease is limited. In Argentina, when this outbreak (happened) in the past, self isolation of the patient in the house (helped) cut the outbreak rapidly," said Eduardo Lopez, infectious disease specialist of the Hospital Ricardo Gutierrez in the city of Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also said it is not the start of a new pandemic. But the infectious disease specialist has warned that the disease has a mortality rate that can reach 40 percent.
"The mortality of hantavirus is high worldwide -- in South America (for example) -- it is between 20, 30 or 38 percent," said Eduardo Lopez.
Argentina's health ministry has deployed teams across Tierra del Fuego to trace the source of this disease and find answers to how and where this outbreak began.
As of May 8, a total of eight cases, including three deaths, have been reported.
The cruise ship arrived off the Port of Granadilla on the Spanish island of Tenerife early on Sunday, where Spanish authorities will launch a large-scale operation to evacuate passengers and part of the crew following the deadly outbreak onboard. Spain's Interior Minister said on Saturday that Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands will send aircraft to repatriate their citizens from the outbreak-hit ship.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an open letter published on Saturday that no new suspected cases have been reported on board.
The WHO assessed that the current public health risk from hantavirus remains low.
Argentina races to find origins of cruise ship hantavirus outbreak
