‘The possibility is practically zero, I cannot confirm it because this is biology’, said this Friday in a press conference the provincial director of Epidemiology, Juan Petrina, from the Tierra del Fuego region
The provincial authorities of Tierra del Fuego, Argentinasaid this Friday (8) that “is practically zero” the possibility that the Dutch couple linked to the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship had been infected in Ushuaia, the city from which the ship departed.
The generated a health alert due to the outbreak of the disease, which is transmitted through the feces, urine or saliva of infected rodents and for which there is no treatment or vaccine.
A passenger is believed to have contracted the disease before boarding on April 1 and infected others on board. At least three passengers died: the Dutch couple and a German woman.
“The possibility is practically zero, I cannot confirm it because this is biology”, said the provincial director of Epidemiology, Juan Petrina, this Friday at a press conference.
The person in charge said it was based on the province’s health history and the previous route of passengers.
Petrina highlighted that the couple stayed only 48 hours in Ushuaia before boarding and, therefore, “the calculations do not add up” for them to have been infected in the province, taking into account the period of incubation of the disease and the date of onset of symptoms reported by the WHO.
Added to this is the history of Tierra del Fuego: located in the extreme south of the country, it has not recorded cases of hantavirus since records existed (1996). According to the Argentine Ministry of Health, the hantavirus variant from the cruise “corresponds to the Andes strain, present in (Argentine provinces) Chubut, Río Negro and Neuquén, and in southern Chile”.
The ministry reported that the Dutch couple entered Argentina on November 27 and, since then, have traveled through several provinces of the country, as well as Chile and Uruguay. Petrina said the couple had been in an area of southern Chile with active hantavirus outbreaks and high fatality rates.
He also confirmed that researchers will travel to Ushuaia to capture and analyze rodents in the areas traveled by the couple. After departing Ushuaia, the ship stopped at several remote islands along the route.
International health authorities insist that the level of epidemic risk is “low” because the virus is less contagious than Covid-19, but they are tracing the possible contacts of some passengers from the ship who disembarked earlier.
