What is the history of the hantavirus?
Hantavirus was first recognized as an infectious disease in the early 1950s when a cluster of 3,000 United Nation troops stationed in Korea was struck by a mysterious illness.
Is hantavirus new or old?
Hantaviruses in the Americas are known as “New World” hantaviruses and may cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Other hantaviruses, known as “Old World” hantaviruses, are found mostly in Europe and Asia and may cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).
How many hantaviruses are there?
Reported Cases of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome in the United States. As of the end of 2020*, 833 cases of hantavirus disease were reported in the United States since surveillance began in 1993. These were all laboratory-confirmed cases and included HPS and non-pulmonary hantavirus infection.
What is the life cycle of hantavirus?
Hantavirus Replication Cycle For pathogenic hantaviruses, the entry into host cells occurs by attachment to αVβ3 integrin on the cellular surface and subsequent endocytosis (39,40). The virion envelope fuses with the endosome membrane in a pH-dependent way, and nucleocapsids are released into the cytoplasm.
Who discovered Hanta virus?
In Europe, mild HFRS-like disease known as nephropathia epidemica, was reported in 1934 simultaneously by two Swedish physicians Myhrman and Zetterholm (Myhrman, 1951). Table 1. International Hantavirus Conferences. Atlanta, U.S.A.
Where is hantavirus found?
Hantaviruses are found in wild rodents, such as mice and rats, in different parts of the world. Hantaviruses found in North America can cause Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, a severe lung disease which can be fatal. A milder form of the disease called Non-Pulmonary Hantavirus infection, can also occur.
Who Found hantavirus?
In 1978, the etiologic agent of Korean Hemerologic fever was isolated from small infected field rodent Apodemus agrarius near Hantan river in South Korea. The virus was named as Hantaan virus, after the name of the river Hantan.
What causes Hanta?
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) The hantaviruses found in Europe and Asia cause a form of kidney disease called hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). The hantaviruses in the Americas attack the lungs, causing hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS).
Is Lassa fever real?
Lassa fever is an animal-borne, or zoonotic, acute viral illness spread by the common African rat. It is endemic in parts of West Africa including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria. Neighboring countries are also at risk because the animal vector lives throughout the region.
Is hantavirus RNA or DNA?
Like other members of the bunyavirus family, hantaviruses are enveloped viruses with a genome that consists of three single-stranded RNA segments designated S (small), M (medium), and L (large).
When does hantavirus start?
Symptoms begin one to eight weeks after inhaling the virus and typically start with 3-5 days of illness including fever, sore muscles, headaches, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue. As the disease gets worse, it causes shortness of breath due to fluid filled lungs. Hospital care is usually required.
Where was the first case of hantavirus?
Hantavirus was first discovered to be responsible for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in ill patients in the southwest United States in 1993. HPS has since infected people throughout the U.S. and the Americas.
What countries have hantavirus?
HPS is more common in South America than in North America. Cases have been identified in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, and Bolivia. Andes virus causes HPS in Argentina and Chile and is the only hantavirus known to have been transmitted from person to person.
Can humans spread hantavirus?
The hantaviruses that cause human illness in the United States cannot be transmitted from one person to another. For example, you cannot get these viruses from touching or kissing a person who has HPS or from a health care worker who has treated someone with the disease.
How do hantaviruses work?
How Hantavirus Affects Your Body. Hantaviruses infect people when they are inhaled. If the virus reaches your lungs, it can infect the cells that line the tiny blood vessels in the lungs, causing them to become “leaky.” The leaky blood vessels allow fluid to fill the lungs making it difficult to breathe.
Where hantavirus is found?
Who discovered Lassa virus?
The Yale epidemiologist who discovered Lassa fever in 1969 very nearly died of what was then a mystery illness while he was investigating it. Dr Jordi Casals-Ariet was studying the blood samples of three US missionary nurses who had become seriously ill while visiting northern Nigeria.
Which cells do hantaviruses infect?
Similar to a few other human pathogens causing hemorrhagic fevers, endothelial cells are the main targets of hantavirus infection [29]. In HFRS and HCPS patients, endothelial cells are ubiquitously infected throughout the body, although injury is most prominent in the lungs and kidneys.
How is hantavirus spread?
Hantavirus is spread when virus-containing particles from rodent urine, droppings, or saliva are stirred into the air. It is important to avoid actions that raise dust, such as sweeping or vacuuming. Infection occurs when you breathe in virus particles.
Who discovered hantavirus?
What do we know about how hantaviruses interact with their different hosts?
Hantaviruses are asymptomatic in their rodent or insectivore natural hosts with which they have co-evolved for millions of years. In contrast, hantaviruses cause different pathologies in humans with varying mortality rates, depending on the hantavirus species and its geographic origin.
Does Lassa fever still exist?
About 100,000 to 300,000 infections of Lassa fever occur annually, with about 5,000 deaths. Surveillance for Lassa fever varies between locations so these estimates are crude.
How did Lassa fever start?
The illness was discovered in 1969 when two missionary nurses died in Nigeria. The virus is named after the town in Nigeria where the first cases occurred. The virus, a member of the virus family Arenaviridae, is a single-stranded RNA virus and is zoonotic, or animal-borne.