Hantavirus

A group of viruses that cause hemorrhagic fever and pneumonia. The Hantaviruses include the Hantaan virus that causes Korean (and Manchurian) hemorrhagic fever. The Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) struck the Four Corner area (where the States of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah meet) in 1993 with devastating, frequently fatal consequences. Hantaviruses are transmitted to humans by contact direct or indirect with the saliva and excreta of rodents such as deer mice, field mice, and ground voles. The HPS outbreak in 1993 followed two years in which there was more rain, more foliage, and more deer mice than usual.

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A genus of Bunyaviridae responsible for pneumonia and hemorrhagic fevers. At least 7 members of the genus are thus far recognized: Hantaan, Puumala, Seoul, Prospect Hill, Thailand, Thottapalayam, and Sin Nombre virus. A number of other species have not been classified as yet. Hantaan virus causes Korean hemorrhagic fever. Various rodent species are the asymptomatic carriers of these viruses, which are shed in saliva, urine, and feces. Human infection is direct, or by the respiratory route from contaminated specimens; person-to-person spread is thought to be rare. An outbreak of h. infection, the H. Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), causing severe and often fatal pulmonary symptoms was identified in the Four-Corners region of the western U.S. in 1993 and the agent was subsequently named Sin Nombre virus.

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han·ta·vi·rus 'han-tə-.vī-rəs, 'hən-, 'hän- n

1) cap a genus of single-stranded RNA viruses of the family Bunyaviridae that infect specific rodents as their natural hosts and that include some forms causing hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in humans following exposure to the virus in airborne particles of rodent urine, feces, or saliva or directly by the bite of a rodent

2) any virus (as the Hantaan virus) of the genus Hantavirus

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n.

one of a genus of viruses that infect rats, mice, and voles and cause disease in humans when the secretions or excreta of these rodents are inhaled or ingested. The disease was first reported from the area of the Hantaan river, which separates North from South Korea, but hantavirus infections also occur in Japan, China, Russia, Europe, and the USA: in Britain it can affect farm, nature conservancy, and sewage workers and those engaged in water sports. The symptoms vary according to the strain of the infecting virus. Many patients have a mild influenza-like illness, but severe cases are characterized by high fever, headache, shock, nausea and vomiting, and petechiae in the skin; there may be kidney pain and rapidly progressive kidney damage leading to kidney failure. A particularly virulent strain in the USA attacks the lungs, leading to rapid respiratory failure. The mortality rate in these severe cases is high.

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Han·ta·vi·rus (hanґtə-vi″rəs) [Hantaan River, Korea] a genus of viruses of the family Bunyaviridae that cause epidemic hemorrhagic fever and respiratory tract infections (see hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, under syndrome). There are at least 20 species included in one serogroup, and several unclassified species. Each species of virus appears to have a single rodent species as a host; transmission to humans is believed to be by contact, direct or indirect, with the excreta of infected rodents.