By Isabel Debre BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) \u2014 Officials in Argentina\u2019s Tierra del Fuego province are challenging the idea that the ongoing deadly hantavirus outbreak may have emerged there, pushing instead for investigations into the other Argentine provinces that passengers visited before boarding the ill-fated Atlantic cruise ship. Current and former officials in the archipelago at the southernmost point of South America insist that the virus did not originate from the trash heap in Ushuaia that national health authorities named earlier this week as the most likely place two Dutch tourists contracted it while bird-watching. \u201cI believe we are facing a smear campaign against this destination,\u201d Juan Facundo Petrina, the province\u2019s director of epidemiology, told reporters Friday in a press conference from Ushuaia. Federal officials didn\u2019t contact local authorities initially… <\/p>\n
By Isabel Debre BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) \u2014 Officials in Argentina\u2019s Tierra del Fuego province are challenging the idea that the ongoing deadly hantavirus outbreak may have emerged there, pushing instead for investigations into the other Argentine provinces that passengers visited before boarding the ill-fated Atlantic cruise ship. Current and former officials in the archipelago at the southernmost point of South America insist that the virus did not originate from the trash heap in Ushuaia that national health authorities named earlier this week as the most likely place two Dutch tourists contracted it while bird-watching. \u201cI believe we are facing a smear campaign against this destination,\u201d Juan Facundo Petrina, the province\u2019s director of epidemiology, told reporters Friday in a press conference from Ushuaia. Federal officials didn\u2019t contact local authorities initially... <\/p>\n