Hantaviruses can infect and cause serious disease in people worldwide. People get hantavirus from contact with rodents like rats and mice, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings, and saliva. It can also spread through a bite or scratch by a rodent, but this is rare.
Transmission to humans occurs by exposure to infected rodents in endemic areas; however, Andes hantavirus is unique in that it can be transmitted from person to person. As hantaviruses target endothelial cells, they can affect diverse organ systems; increased vascular permeability is central to pathogenesis. The main clinical syndromes associated with hantaviruses are haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), which is endemic in Europe and Asia, and hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), which is endemic in the Americas. HCPS and HFRS are separate clinical entities, but they share several features and have many overlapping symptoms, signs, and pathogenic alterations.
Criteria for reporting hantavirus cases include:
Acute laboratory diagnostic results:
- IgM positive
- IgG positive with rising titers
- Immunohistochemistry positive
- PCR positive
Suspected case confirmation:
- Presence of hantavirus-specific IgM antibodies or a 4-fold or greater increase in IgG antibody titers or hantavirus-specific IgG seroconversion
- Positive reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results for hantavirus RNA
- Positive immunohistochemical results for hantavirus antigens.
References:
- Toledo J, Haby MM, Reveiz L, Sosa Leon L, Angerami R, Aldighieri S. Evidence for Human-to-Human Transmission of Hantavirus: A Systematic Review. J Infect Dis. 2022 Oct 17;226(8):1362-1371. [Medline]
- Vial PA, Ferrés M, Vial C, Klingström J, Ahlm C, López R, Le Corre N, Mertz GJ. Hantavirus in humans: a review of clinical aspects and management. Lancet Infect Dis. 2023 Sep;23(9):e371-e382. [Medline]
Created Mar 11, 2025.
