First identified in 1976 from cases of Korean hemorrhagic fever, hantaviruses are responsible for intermittent regional outbreaks of acute hemorrhagic infection. Hantaviruses are negative sense RNA viruses in the Bunyaviridae family. Humans may be infected with Hantaviruses through urine, saliva or contact with rodent waste products. Some Hantaviruses may lead to serious diseases in humans, such as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Human infections of Hantaviruses have almost entirely been linked to human contact with rodent excrement, but recent human-to-human transmission has been reported with the Andes virus in South America. Two clinical syndromes predominate: hemorrhagic fever renal syndrome across Europe/Asia, and hemorrhagic pulmonary syndrome in the Americas and is transmitted to humans through direct contact with rodents, excrements of rodents or aerosols. Soldiers, farmers and campers are particularly at risk. Hantavirus has an incubation time of two to four weeks in humans before symptoms of infection occur. The symptoms of HFRS can be split into five phases including Febrile phase, Hypotensive phase, Oliguric phase, Diuretic phase and finally  a Convalescent phase when recovery occurs and symptoms begin to improve. Regions especially affected by HFRS include China, the Korean Peninsula, Russia (Hantaan, Puumala and Seoul viruses), and northern and western Europe (Puumala and Dobrava virus). A positive serological test result, evidence of viral antigen in tissue by immunohistochemistry, or the presence of amplifiable viral RNA sequences in blood or tissue, with compatible history of HPS, is considered diagnostic.

References

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