Hantavirus: Mission in Ushuaia Captures Approximately 150 Rodents for Analysis

Scientists from Argentina on a mission in Ushuaia have captured around 150 rodents for analysis, but so far have not found any long-tailed rats, which are the carriers of the 'Andes' strain of hantavirus associated with the outbreak on the Hondius ship, a local health authority announced on Thursday, May 21.

Since Monday, the mission conducted by biologists from the Malbran Institute in Buenos Aires has captured two local species in significant numbers, which could potentially carry a type of hantavirus, but as stated by Juan Petrina, the Epidemiology Director of the Tierra del Fuego province, "there is no evidence that they transmit it."

The biologists from Buenos Aires set up 140 traps in various locations across the southern island over three nights, achieving a capture rate of between 40% and 50%. They still need to identify the last rodents captured before sending blood and tissue samples to Buenos Aires for analysis, with definitive results expected in about three weeks, emphasized Juan Petrina.

"We cannot draw firm conclusions without laboratory results; however, we can conclude that there is a low density of long-tailed rats in the area, which we already knew," he added, referring to the long-tailed rat (Oligoryzomys longicaudatus), which was the targeted species and the carrier of the human-to-human transmissible 'Andes' strain of the virus.