Hantavirus Outbreak w/ Siouxsie Wiles: 13 May 2026

On the 1st of April, a cruise ship departed from the port of Ushuaia, in the far South of Argentina, carrying 175 passengers and crewmembers. Within a week, the first symptoms of the hantavirus infection began to show. A 70 year old Dutch man died onboard, becoming the first fatality of this outbreak, and his wife died not long after. With the death of a German woman in early May, the death toll now stands at three.

The surviving passengers, who come from 23 different nationalities, have finally disembarked the ship in the Netherlands, and most have gone back to their home countries where they will go now through a period of quarantine

To discuss the specifics of the hantavirus outbreak, producer Toby spoke to infectious disease expert and public science communicator Siouxsie Wiles.