New hantaviruses causing hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in central Argentina

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is associated with several New World hantaviruses. 1 Nichol ST Spiropoulou CF Morzunov S et al. Genetic identification of a hantavirus associated with an outbreak of acute respiratory illness. Science. 1993; 262: 914-917 Crossref PubMed Scopus (966) Google Scholar Recently, a severe HPS outbreak that affected 17 people occurred in El Bolson, southwestern Argentina. Andes virus was previously identified in a fatal HPS case that occurred in the same region. 2 Lopez N Padula P Rossi C Lazaro ME Franze-Fernandez MT Genetic identification of a new hantavirus causing severe pulmonary syndrome in Argentina. Virology. 1996; 219: 1-4 Crossref PubMed Scopus (25) Google Scholar Before this outbreak, cases of a similar acute respiratory illness with a high mortality rate were reported from three other regions in Argentina. 3 Levis SC Briggiler AM Cacase M et al. Emergence of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in Argentina. J Trop Med Hyg. 1995; 54 (abstr).: 441 Google Scholar Serological evidence of hantavirus infection in Oligoryzomys flavescen (rice rat), Akodon azarae (grass field mouse), and Bolomys obscurus (dark field mouse) has been reported. 4 Levis SC, Calderon GE, Pini N, et al. Sindrome pulmonar por hantavirus (SPH): resultados prelimanares de estudios orientados a establecer los potenciales reservorios de hantavirus en la Argentina. Abstr no 144. 5th Argentinan Congress of Virology (V Congreso Argentino de Virologia), Tandil, Argentina, Apr 21–24, 1996. Google Scholar