emirates7 - Argentina on Friday said it was expanding its investigation into the origins of the hantavirus outbreak that struck an Atlantic cruise ship last month, sending scientists to trap and test rats in the western province of Mendoza while lab results are pending from the southernmost city of Ushuaia.

Hantavirus is a rare rodent-borne illness that has multiple strains of varying severity.

Authorities said scientists from Argentina's leading centre for infectious diseases, the Malbran Institute, and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention would conduct field studies in the city of Malargue, Mendoza, from 8th to 12th June.

Argentine scientists, along with experts from the CDC, will trap and test rodents to trace the origin.

Laboratory analysis is also continuing on more than 100 rodents captured in Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego last month.