Hantavirus Disease

Hantavirus infection, also called hantavirus disease, is an infectious disease of humans caused by viruses in the Orthohantavirus genus. It can result in hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, due to Old World hantaviruses, or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, due to New World hantaviruses. Onset of initial symptoms is generally 1 to 8 weeks after exposure. The disease is typically spread when people breathe in air contaminated by rodent droppings. Treatment is primarily supportive care, and the risk of death is around 12 percent with the renal syndrome and around 40 percent with the pulmonary syndrome. About 100,000 cases of the renal syndrome occur a year, and the causative virus was not discovered until 1976, in the Hantan River area of South Korea.