Sunday, May 10th 2026
New evidence suggests the deadly strain of the virus did not originate in Argentina, but in…
New evidence has come to overturn what Argentine authorities believed until now about the origin of the deadly hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship in Antarctica that has killed three passengers.
According to a report by the British Mail on Sunday, “point The true “ground zero” of the epidemic is almost 1,500 miles north of the city of Ushuaia, on Argentina’s southern tip, where the passengers were originally thought to have been infected.
Ornithologist Leo Schilperoord, 70, who boarded the MV Hondius with his wife, Miriam, 69, had recently visited northern Patagonia. But Juan Petrina, director of epidemiology for Tierra del Fuego state, said: “The virus has never been here.”
At the heart of the case are 70-year-old Dutch ornithologist Leo Schilperoord and his wife, Miriam, 69, who boarded the cruise ship MV Hondius. Initial reports suggested the couple picked up the virus at a large waste-picking and bird-watching site in Ushuaia.
However, revelations suggest the couple had traveled weeks earlier to northern Patagonia, an area where the virus has spread rapidly. There have been 101 confirmed cases and 32 deaths in recent months.
Juan Petrina, the director of epidemiology for the state of Tierra del Fuego, told the newspaper that the virus “never existed” in Ushuaia and completely rejected theories that it was transmitted at the local dump.
“We don’t know where the information comes from that the couple was infected at the local dump. Even if they went there, which we don’t know, the mouse colilargo that carries the virus is not present in the area,” he said.
He explained that the Schilperoord family was in northern Patagonia about 25 to 30 days before arriving in Ushuaia and “almost certainly” became infected there. The couple arrived in the city on March 29 and had just two full days before boarding the ship, while the incubation period for the virus is at least a week.
Andean strain and human-to-human transmission
The virus that killed the couple and a third passenger is known as “Andean strain.” It is the only variant of hantavirus that can be transmitted from person to person and is found in the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro and Chubut in northern Patagonia.
Hantavirus is transmitted mainly through inhalation of air contaminated with rodent droppings, urine or saliva.
Argentine authorities have admitted they do not know how many of the 32 deaths recorded since last June are specifically linked to the strain. Andes.
It was also learned that the couple had also visited Chile before traveling to Ushuaia and boarding the cruise ship on April 1. However, a Chilean health ministry official dismissed any possibility of infection there, stressing that the incubation period was not consistent with their trip.
Death on cruise ship and fear of super-transmission
Leo Schilperoord was the first to die on the ship, on April 11. According to passengers, the captain announced that his death was due to “natural causes,” prompting several passengers to hug his wife to comfort her.
Miriam Schilperoord accompanied her husband’s body to Johannesburg, South Africa, on April 24, but shortly after she began to show gastrointestinal symptoms. She died two days later.
Argentina’s Ministry of Health announced that there are currently nine active cases of hantavirus in the country, while one man is hospitalized in critical condition.
Although the World Health Organization is trying to reduce fears of a possible Covid-19 pandemic, experts recall that the Andean strain has already caused cases of super-transmission.
In 2018, a man in Argentina’s Chubut province went to a birthday party while running a high fever, infecting 34 people. Of these, 11 died.
The issue has returned to attention because of the case of the wife of the Oscar-winning actor, Gene Hackman. Betsy Arakawa died of the coronavirus last year, most likely after cleaning out a rat’s nest in a shed on the couple’s ranch in New Mexico.
The actor’s grandson, Tim Hackman, said: “I wish everyone the best of luck. I hope those affected by this have a strong support group around them.” /tesheshi
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Source: prizrenpost
Etiketa: Brief
