The Foreign Office has issued a travel warning for UK tourists regarding Hantavirus in Argentina. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) updated its travel guidance for the South American country overnight on Thursday, May 7 into Friday, May 8.
Current Situation
Between January 1 and March 28, 2026, 32 confirmed cases of hantavirus infection and eight deaths have been reported. Cases have been recorded in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Salta, Chubut, Río Negro, Entre Ríos, and Jujuy.
The FCDO warned: "Hantavirus is present in Argentina. Read more information about hantavirus in Argentina on TravelHealthPro. Further guidance on hantavirus is available from the UK Health Security Agency and Argentina’s Ministry of Health (website in Spanish)."
Transmission and Symptoms
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS explain: "As hantaviruses are carried by rodents, infections in humans tend to occur in places where people and rodents coexist. This is most commonly in rural, agricultural settings. The viruses can also sometimes be found in cleaning sheds, barns, and holiday homes where rodents might have nested. In the UK we occasionally see cases of one strain of hantavirus (Seoul hantavirus) associated with pet rats."
Symptoms of hantavirus infection can include fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, or shortness of breath. In some cases, people develop severe breathing difficulties requiring hospital care. Symptoms usually appear between 2 to 4 weeks after exposure, but there are reports of symptoms occurring up to 40 days after exposure.
Precautions and Monitoring
The UKHSA is monitoring the situation. Most hantaviruses do not spread between humans, although person-to-person transmission has happened with the Andes virus strain in rare cases. This strain has been identified in a cruise ship outbreak. People usually become infected by breathing in air contaminated with virus particles from rodent urine, droppings, or saliva. The virus can also enter through cuts, the eyes, or very rarely, a rodent bite. For strains with person-to-person transmission, it occurs through very close contact.
