Antarctica's Cruise Boom Sparks Alarm After Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak

BRUSSELS, May 8 (Reuters) – Tourism in the Antarctic Peninsula is a niche but booming industry powered by deep-pocketed adventure-seekers traveling thousands of miles to marvel at penguin colonies and take “polar plunges” in sight of icebergs.

But growing numbers of visitors bring risks including disease, invasive species and pollution to the delicate ecosystems of Antarctica and the remote sub-Antarctic islands that teem with bird life, sea lions and whales.

The outbreak of a deadly strain of the hantavirus on a Dutch-flagged cruise ship that sailed from the southern tip of Argentina across the southern