The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was aware of one New Zealander on board the ship.
“We are in contact with the New Zealander, who has not requested consular assistance.”
It is not confirmed if the Kiwi was working on board the ship or a passenger.
Hantaviruses are a family of viruses spread to humans through rodents that can lead to serious illness and death.
Professor in Molecular Virology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Roger Hewson, said different hantaviruses are found in separate parts of the globe.
“In the Americas, some hantaviruses can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), a rare but potentially very severe illness affecting the lungs.”
Hewson said: “Symptoms can initially be non-specific, including fever, muscle aches, headache and gastrointestinal symptoms, before some patients progress to respiratory illness”.
Michael Baker, University of Otago Professor of Public Health, told the Herald yesterday that HPS is “very dangerous”, with around a third of the 100 people who contract the disease in Argentina annually dying.
The most common way to become infected with a hantavirus is by inhaling dust which contains droppings, urine and saliva of infected rodents.
The human-to-human infection risk is very low, Baker said, although it has been recorded before.
Baker said it would be likely that the tourists caught the disease while on land and then boarded the ship carrying it.
The BBC reported that a Dutch husband and wife, as well as a German national, had died.
