Dutch couple who died of virus visited three countries

The two Dutch cruise ship passengers who died of hantavirus had travelled through Chile, Uruguay and Argentina before boarding the MV Hondius, Argentina's health ministry said yesterday.

The ministry said that the husband-and-wife couple arrived in Argentina on 27 November, then travelled to Chile and Uruguay before returning to Argentina on 27 March to board the MV Hondius on 1 April.

The Argentine Ministry of Health did not speculate on where the pair may have contracted the virus.

The Andes strain of the virus, which was confirmed in two of the cruise ship passengers, has not been detected in Tierra del Fuego province, where Ushuaia is situated, since 1996, officials said.

The Andes strain is the only one for which there is evidence of human-to-human transmission.

The Argentine health ministry said it was sending experts to Ushuaia to capture and test rodents for the virus "in areas linked to the route" of the Dutch couple.

The husband died on board the ship on 11 April. His body was disembarked in Saint Helena, an island in the south Atlantic.

His wife, who was feeling unwell, also left the ship at Saint Helena. She was later evacuated to a hospital in Johannesburg, where she died.

The body of a German passenger, who also died, is still on the ship.

The WHO said earlier that three people - two crew members and one other person thought to be infected -- were evacuated from the vessel, which had been in quarantine off the Cape Verde archipelago. They were transferred to the Netherlands.

The Dutch-owned MV Hondius will reach the Spanish island of Tenerife "within three days", with the evacuation of passengers to start from 11 May, the Spanish government has said.

The Department of Health has said plans are being developed to manage the care of two Irish passengers on the cruise ship on their return to Ireland.

It said decisions with regard to where they will quarantine will be on a case-by-case basis and that if they become symptomatic they will be assessed and treated as appropriate.