Health official: 'Almost zero' chance Dutch man got hantavirus in Ushuaia

There is an "almost zero" chance that the Dutch man linked to the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship contracted the disease in Ushuaia, a Tierra del Fuego Province health official said Friday.

Juan Petrina, director of epidemiology for Tierra del Fuego, where the southermost city of Ushuaia is located, told reporters at a press conference that his assessment was based on the virus's incubation period, among other factors.

The Dutch man and his wife, both of whom died of the virus, boarded the Hondius in Ushuaia on April 1.

The duo, both aged 69, spent 48 hours in the city before they set sail, it is believed.

The Dutch man first displayed symptoms of the virus five days later on April 6, while at sea, Petrina noted.

"The time frames do not correspond to a possible infection in Ushuaia," Petrina said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the incubation period – the time between infection and the onset of symptoms – for hantavirus is between one and six weeks.

But it is typically between two and three weeks, WHO technical officer Anais Legand told the AFP news agency.

Petrina said authorities had been unable to confirm media reports that the Dutch couple, who were on a bird-watching tour of South America, visited a dump in Ushuaia where they could have been infected by rodents.

An official at the National Health Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Times on Friday that bird-watching stop in Ushuaia was one hypothesis, but that authorities had not confirmed the Dutch couple's visit.

Authorities believe that they circulated solo, without a tour guide, while in Ushuaia.

Andes strain

The Andes strain of the hantavirus, the only one that can transmit from person to person and was confirmed among some of those infected, has not been detected in Tierra del Fuego province since 1996.

The couple had also travelled in Chile, Uruguay and other parts of Argentina before the start of the cruise.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, however, said the duo visited sites where the species of rat that is known to carry the Andes strain was present.