The true number and disease potentials of hantaviruses is doubtlessly much higher than currently appreciated. They are enveloped viruses with a tripartite negative-sense RNA genome. In the rodent host HTN causes a chronic infection that does not appear to result in disease. HFRS is an acute febrile illness that was first recognized in the western world after a 1951 outbreak among U.S. troops stationed in Korea. There is acute renal failure, but the precise pathophysiologic lesion producing renal failure is uncertain.
Mortality is usually from shock or hemorrhage.
Isolation attempts had been unsuccessful. Despite extensive study, no arthropod vector has been implicated in the transmission of any hantavirus. The incidence of HFRS among humans follows a similar trend, but the curve slightly trails the seroprevalence curve among A. agrarius populations. Hantaviruses in murid and cricetid rodents. A. agrarius and Rattus norvegicus are members of the family Muridae.