LA Times A deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship departing Argentina highlights a broader crisis: The country is experiencing a surge of the rare rodent-borne disease linked to climate change.
Argentina has recorded 101 hantavirus infections since June 2025, roughly double the previous year, with the mortality rate nearly tripling to about one-third of cases.
Warming temperatures and extreme weather patterns are expanding the virus’ range, allowing infected rodents to migrate into previously unaffected regions across Argentina.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — 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.
The health emergency aboard the ship that’s moored across the ocean comes as Argentina sees a surge of hantavirus cases that many local public health researchers attribute to the recently accelerating effects of climate change. Argentina, where the cruise to Antarctica departed, is consistently ranked by the World Health Organization as having the highest incidence of the rare, rodent-borne disease in Latin America.