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View all search resultsDutch hantavirus victims visited Chile, Uruguay, Argentina before cruise
The ministry said that the husband-and-wife couple arrived in Argentina on November 27, then traveled to Chile and Uruguay before returning to Argentina on March 27 to board the MV Hondius on April 1.
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A person in a hazmat suit (2nd right) is escorted to a ambulance from a medical aircraft allegedly carrying some of the passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius believed to be infected with hantavirus, at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam on May 6, 2026. (AFP/Lina Selg)
T
he two Dutch cruise ship passengers who died of hantavirus had travelled through Chile, Uruguay and Argentina before boarding the MV Hondius, Argentina's health ministry said Wednesday.
The ministry said that the husband-and-wife couple arrived in Argentina on November 27, then traveled to Chile and Uruguay before returning to Argentina on March 27 to board the MV Hondius on April 1.
The Argentine Ministry of Health did not speculate on where the pair may have contracted the virus.
The Andes strain of the virus, which was confirmed in two of the cruise ship passengers, has not been detected in Tierra del Fuego province, where Ushuaia is situated, since 1996, officials said.
The Andes strain is the only one for which there is evidence of human-to-human transmission.
The Argentine health ministry said it was sending experts to Ushuaia to capture and test rodents for the virus "in areas linked to the route" of the Dutch couple.
The husband died onboard the ship on April 11. His body was disembarked in Saint Helena, an island in the south Atlantic.
His wife, who was feeling unwell, also left the ship at Saint Helena. She was later evacuated to a hospital in Johannesburg, where she died.
The body of a German passenger, who also died, is still on the ship.
The WHO said earlier that three people -- two crew members and one other person thought to be infected -- were evacuated from the vessel, which had been in quarantine off the Cape Verde archipelago.
They were transferred to the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, the United States is closely monitoring the situation with US travelers on board the luxury cruise ship that was hit by a hantavirus outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday.
Three people - a Dutch couple and a German national - have died in the outbreak on the MV Hondius. Eight people, including a Swiss citizen, are suspected to have contracted the virus, according to the World Health Organization.
Hantavirus usually spreads through contact with infected rodents and human-to-human transmission is uncommon.
"The Department of State is leading a coordinated, whole-of-government response including direct contact with passengers, diplomatic coordination, and engagement with domestic and international health authorities," the CDC said in a statement.
