Buenos Aires, Argentina — Argentina has seen a sharp increase in hantavirus infections over the past year, with cases nearly doubling and 32 deaths reported — the country’s highest outbreak level since 2018.
Health officials are also investigating the travel history of a couple who toured several parts of Argentina before dying during a hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius. The ship departed from Ushuaia in southern Argentina on April 1 and is currently sailing toward Spain’s Canary Islands.
The vessel is scheduled to arrive at Tenerife’s industrial port of Granadilla early Sunday.
Scientists say climate change and environmental destruction are likely driving the rise in infections by increasing contact between humans and rodents that carry the virus. Hantavirus is commonly transmitted through exposure to infected rodent urine, droppings, or saliva.
Argentina’s health ministry reported that 101 hantavirus cases have been confirmed since the current season began in June 2025, nearly double the 57 cases recorded during the same period last season.
The country has not only experienced an unusually high number of hantavirus infections this year, but also one of the highest death rates in recent years, with fatalities increasing by 10 percentage points compared to the previous season.
Those figures, however, do not include the separate outbreak on board the cruise ship MV Hondius, where the source of the infections remains unclear.
