Ushuaia. Patagonia. These are names synonymous with far-flung adventures and the romance of icily remote destinations. For half a century, Patagonia has been a well-known retailer of outdoor apparel, equipment, and food, while Ushuaia is a name so evocative and sought-after that L’Oréal and French TV company TF1 fought over it. Now, though, after a worldwide hantavirus scare that some say originated in the South American region, the two words carry a very different connotation.
Argentina is currently investigating whether birdwatching tours in its southernmost reaches were the source of a deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius. As of 13 May, according to the most recent at the time of writing Disease Outbreak update from the World Health Organisation, a total of 11 cases, including three deaths, had been reported (case fatality ratio 27%). Eight cases were laboratory-confirmed for Andes virus (ANDV) infection, the WHO said, two were probable, and one case remained inconclusive.
The disease initially presents very much like a case of the flu, but, depending on the type, can develop into a pulmonary syndrome that fills the lungs with fluid and is fatal in 40% of cases. It can also become a haemorrhagic, renal syndrome with a death rate between one and 15%, the Centers for Disease Control say.
Usually acquired by breathing particles of rodent droppings, the WHO has said, “current evidence suggests human-to-human transmission onboard the ship.” Panic levels spiked around the time that person-to-person spread appeared to have infected an air steward who had only been in contact with one of the cruise passengers for a very short time. On social media networks, chatter about another post-COVID-19 virus, and its potential world-shattering consequences became rife.
That panic appears to have subsided, and the WHO currently assesses the public health risk for those who were onboard the cruise ship as moderate, and the Global health risk level as low. The reasoning is that the ship’s environment put people in closer quarters than the externally controlled environment, the ship’s passengers’ average age is higher than the global population, and that viral sequencing suggests the outbreak stemmed from a “single zoonotic spillover event.”
But for travel stakeholders in Ushuaia and the Patagonian region, damage has already been done. Tourism by Antarctic cruise passengers from Ushuaia has grown 252% in the last decade, but, as authorities continue to look into the outbreak, travel agents have reported to The Independent a drop in bookings for the next summer season. While the figures will not reach the global trillions in lost GDP that the International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat attributes to COVID, for Ushuaia, where tourism accounts for 25% of city revenue, any reputational impact could be grave— especially given the way the region is already suffering under national government policies that have incentivised domestic tourists to go abroad.
As the former tourism secretary of Ushuaia, Julio Lovece, points out: “There’s concern because our main attraction is clean and pure landscapes, the imaginary idea of the end of the world.” Stakeholders in Ushuaia will be hoping his turn of phrase is not an ill omen.
