Health officials in Argentina have ruled out their southernmost province as the source of a deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard a luxury cruise vessel, according to statements made during a Friday news conference.
Juan Petrina, who oversees epidemiology and environmental health for Tierra del Fuego province, explained that investigators analyzed the timeline between when passengers visited the region and when they began showing symptoms of the disease.
“The calculations don’t add up for them to have been infected in our province … the possibility is practically nil,” Petrina stated during the briefing held in Ushuaia.
The determination eliminates Argentina’s southernmost territory as a potential infection site for the cruise ship passengers who contracted the dangerous virus.
