Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is one of two potentially fatal syndromes of zoonotic origin caused by species of hantavirus. These include Black Creek Canal virus (BCCV), New York orthohantavirus (NYV), Monongahela virus (MGLV), Sin Nombre orthohantavirus (SNV), and certain other members of hantavirus genera that are native to the United States and Canada.

Specific rodents are the principal hosts of the hantaviruses including the hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) in southern Florida, which is the principal host of Black Creek Canal virus. The deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) in Canada and the Western United States is the principal host of Sin Nombre virus. The white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) in the eastern United States is the principal host of New York virus. In South America, the long-tailed mouse (Oligoryzomys longicaudatus) and other species of the genus Oligoryzomys have been documented as the reservoir for Andes virus.

Andes virus, associated with the native rat Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the northern Patagonian regions of Argentina and Chile. Another hantavirus, Oran virus, also causes HPS and is apparently associated with the same rodent species in extreme northern Argentina. However, the rat populations appear to be disjunct and careful taxonomic and distributional studies would be required to determine if these rodent populations represent distinct species and to define the potential HPS-endemic areas associated with each virus.