The virus was still moving through them, weeks after they disembarked.
En las semanas posteriores a que el crucero MV Hondius zarpara de Ushuaia, un virus silencioso viajó con sus pasajeros hacia todos los rincones del mundo. El hantavirus, cepa Andes, se llevó tres vidas —entre ellas la del presunto caso índice y su esposa— y dejó trece casos confirmados o probables en múltiples países, recordándonos que las enfermedades no respetan fronteras ni itinerarios. La OMS coordina ahora una vigilancia que abarca treinta y dos países, mientras el mundo aguarda, con paciencia y cautela, que el período de incubación complete su ciclo.
- Trece casos y tres muertos en varios continentes revelan que el crucero antártico MV Hondius se convirtió, sin saberlo, en un vector global de hantavirus cepa Andes.
- La OMS confirmó transmisión de persona a persona a bordo del buque, no durante las excursiones en tierra, lo que redefine el origen y la cadena de contagio.
- Más de seiscientos contactos distribuidos en treinta y dos países están siendo rastreados, con cuarentenas de cuarenta y dos días recomendadas para los de alto riesgo.
- El período de incubación de hasta ocho semanas garantiza que nuevos casos seguirán emergiendo durante semanas, manteniendo en alerta a más de veinte naciones en Europa, África, Asia y América.
- El riesgo global para la población general se considera bajo, pero la maquinaria de vigilancia epidemiológica internacional opera a plena capacidad mientras se investiga el origen exacto del contagio inicial.
Dieciocho días después de que el MV Hondius partiera de Ushuaia, el recuento de casos de hantavirus a bordo había ascendido a trece —once confirmados por laboratorio, dos probables— y tres personas habían muerto. El 29 de mayo, la Organización Mundial de la Salud publicó su última actualización epidemiológica: nuevos casos aparecían en Canadá, España y los Países Bajos, todos vinculados a pasajeros o tripulantes que habían estado a bordo cuando el barco zarpó de Argentina el 1 de abril.
El virus no anuncia su llegada. Los síntomas pueden tardar hasta ocho semanas en manifestarse, aunque la OMS trabaja con una ventana de seis semanas basada en un brote previo en la región andina argentina. El período de incubación promedio, calculado a partir de los trece casos documentados, es de veintidós días. A los cuarenta y dos días de cuarentena, la probabilidad de liberación segura alcanza el noventa y seis por ciento; a los treinta y cinco días, cae al noventa y uno.
La hipótesis central señala como caso índice a Leo Schilperoord, ornitólogo neerlandés de setenta años que había viajado por Argentina, Chile y Uruguay desde finales de noviembre de 2025. Embarcó en Ushuaia el 1 de abril junto a su esposa, Mirjam Huisman. Schilperoord enfermó a la semana de zarpar y murió el 11 de abril, mientras el barco cruzaba el Atlántico. Su esposa falleció dos semanas después. Ambos estaban infectados con la cepa Andes, la única variante conocida capaz de transmitirse de persona a persona.
La OMS descartó que Schilperoord se hubiera contagiado en Chile: el tiempo transcurrido entre su visita y el inicio de los síntomas superaba el período máximo de incubación. Un análisis genético preliminar mostró secuencias virales casi idénticas entre los distintos casos, el tipo de coincidencia que se observa cuando un contagio engendra otro en espacios cerrados. El origen exacto de la infección inicial sigue bajo investigación conjunta con autoridades argentinas y chilenas.
Más de seiscientos contactos han sido identificados en treinta y dos países, desde Cabo Verde y Sudáfrica hasta Canadá, Estados Unidos y cinco naciones del sudeste asiático. El riesgo global para la población general sigue siendo bajo, según la OMS, pero la vigilancia permanecerá activa durante semanas, a la espera de que los últimos períodos de incubación completen su curso.
Eighteen days after the MV Hondius left port in Ushuaia, the hantavirus count aboard the Antarctic cruise ship had climbed to thirteen cases—eleven confirmed by laboratory testing, two still probable. Three people were dead. The World Health Organization released its latest epidemiological update on May 29th, and the picture had grown more complex: new cases were appearing in Canada, Spain, and the Netherlands, all among passengers or crew who had been aboard the vessel when it departed Argentina on April 1st.
The ship itself was long gone, its hundred-odd passengers scattered across the globe. But the virus was still moving through them, or had been, weeks after they disembarked. This was the nature of hantavirus—it did not announce itself. Symptoms could take up to eight weeks to surface, though the WHO, drawing on experience from a 2018-2019 outbreak in the Andean region of Argentina, was working with a six-week window. The average incubation period, based on the thirteen cases now documented and historical person-to-person transmission data from Argentina, was twenty-two days. That meant a ninety-six percent probability of safe release from quarantine at forty-two days; at thirty-five days, that confidence dropped to ninety-one percent.
The working hypothesis had not changed: the virus came aboard with a seventy-year-old Dutch ornithologist named Leo Schilperoord. He and his wife, Mirjam Huisman, sixty-nine, had traveled through Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay since late November 2025. They arrived in Ushuaia on March 29th, stayed an extra night due to bad weather, and boarded the MV Hondius on April 1st. Schilperoord fell ill within a week. He died on April 11th, while the ship was crossing the Atlantic. His wife died two weeks later. Both were infected with the Andes strain of hantavirus—the only known variant capable of spreading from person to person.
Where had Schilperoord contracted it? The initial suspicion fell on Chile, where he and his wife had traveled. But the WHO ruled that out. The time between his visit to Chile and the onset of symptoms exceeded the maximum incubation period. The evidence now pointed elsewhere: to transmission aboard the ship itself, after departure. A preliminary genetic analysis supported this conclusion—different cases showed nearly identical viral sequences, the kind of match you see when one infection spawns another in close quarters.
More than six hundred people had been identified as contacts across thirty-two countries. Fifty-three percent were classified as high-risk; the rest as low-risk. The tracking extended across Cabo Verde, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Canada, the United States, sixteen European nations, and five countries in Southeast Asia. Over twenty nations were now on alert. The global risk to the general population remained low, the WHO stated, but the machinery of surveillance was vast and would remain in motion for weeks. New cases would likely continue to emerge as the incubation periods ran their course. The investigation into how Schilperoord became infected—the true origin of the outbreak—was ongoing, conducted in collaboration with Argentine and Chilean authorities. For now, the focus was on containment, on tracking the invisible thread that connected a cruise ship to continents, on waiting to see who else would fall ill.
Citas Notables
All cases to date correspond to passengers or crew members of the ship— World Health Organization
The time elapsed between the individual's visit to Chile and symptom onset exceeds the maximum incubation period. Therefore, exposure in Chile can be ruled out. Current evidence suggests person-to-person transmission occurred aboard the vessel— World Health Organization
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did it take eighteen days for the case count to reach thirteen? Shouldn't they have known sooner?
The virus doesn't work that way. Most people who were exposed didn't show symptoms for weeks. Some are still in that window. The ship left on April 1st, and the first case started showing symptoms around April 8th. But everyone else? They're scattered across the world now, and symptoms arrive on their own schedule.
So the wife—Mirjam—she caught it from her husband aboard the ship?
That's what the evidence suggests. He was the first to fall ill, and she was in close contact with him. She died two weeks after he did. But the real question is how he got it in the first place, before they even boarded.
And they still don't know?
Not definitively. They've ruled out Chile—the timing doesn't fit. They're looking at Argentina now, at the places they visited. But it was months ago. Finding the exact moment of exposure, the exact place, is nearly impossible.
What about the people on the ship who got sick after them?
That's the alarming part. The genetic analysis shows the virus spreading from person to person aboard the vessel. Nearly identical sequences in different cases. That's how you know it's one outbreak, one chain of transmission.
And now there are six hundred contacts being tracked?
Across thirty-two countries. Most of them will never get sick. But they have to be monitored because the incubation period is long enough that you can't know for weeks whether someone is infected.
What does that mean for the people being tracked?
Quarantine, mostly. Forty-two days for high-risk contacts—people who had close contact with confirmed cases. Self-monitoring for the rest. It's a waiting game.