Hantavirus Disease: An Update

In addition to the well-known clinical early symptoms of hantavirus disease (fever, flank and abdominal pain as well as arthralgia), unusual neurological changes in the context of infection come into focus. The spectrum of neurological symptoms ranges from transient myopia to severe pareses in the context of Guillain-Barre syndrome. In endemic areas, rapid IgM tests for initial assessment are of certain value for differential diagnosis. For therapeutic approaches, only supportive measures up to transient dialysis are available. Molecular genetic analysis and comparison of hantavirus strains of patients and mice from the same geographical area allowed molecular characterization of different outbreak regions. In the meantime, the Puumala viruses of the main outbreak regions in Germany are molecularly well characterized; therefore, the nucleotide sequence of the virus strain detected in a patient makes it possible to draw conclusions about the geographic region where the patient's infection took place. The human pathogenic hantaviruses being prevalent in Germany are the Puumala virus (reservoir: bank vole) and the Dobrava-Belgrade virus, genotype Kurkino (reservoir: striped field mouse). Recently, the molecular detection of further hantaviruses in patients with hantavirus disease was achieved. It can be concluded that also the Seoul virus (reservoir: rats) and the Tulavirus (reservoir: field mouse and related species) occasionally cause hantavirus disease in Germany. New results revealed that human infections can occur not only by the generally accepted route of inhalation of virus-containing aerosols, but also by ingestion of virus-containing materials. For patients with hantavirus infection or disease, it can be assumed that they are not infectious for their environment. A new systematic review could not confirm a human-to-human transmission previously postulated for South American hantaviruses. While all known human pathogenic hantaviruses are transmitted by rodents, other hantaviruses have been recently detected in shrews, moles, and bats. The clinical significance of these new viruses is quite unclear as yet.