Argentina Traps Rats in Ushuaia to Trace Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
Argentine investigators in Ushuaia are trapping and testing local rats to determine whether hantavirus is present in the area, as part of tracing the source of the MV Hondius cruise outbreak; dead rats are collected for a field lab and samples will be sent to Buenos Aires for testing, a process that could take about a month. Officials say the probe aims to rule out Ushuaia as the source while noting that the Andes virus is found in southern Chile and Argentina and that climate-driven rodent range shifts are complicating the outbreak picture.
