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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Guardian staff and agencies

Argentina races to find origins of cruise ship hantavirus outbreak, amid reports some passengers have returned to US

A scientist in a lab coat and blue gloves uses a pipette inside a biosafety cabinet.
A scientist from the Malbran Institute handling containers used to diagnose the Andes hantavirus, in Buenos Aires on 6 May, 2026. Photograph: ARGENTINE HEALTH MINISTRY/AFP/Getty Images

Officials and experts in Argentina are scrambling to determine if their country is the source of a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has gripped an Atlantic cruise ship, amid reports that a number of passengers have already returned to their home countries.

Argentina, where the cruise to Antarctica departed, is consistently ranked by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having the highest incidence of the rare, rodent-borne disease in Latin America. Investigators there are working to contact trace the source of contamination.

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