The viral-complement strand of L segment is nearly entirely devoted to encoding a putative RNA dependent RNA polymerase . These proteins are proteolytically processed during translation into G1 and G2. The morphology and genetic structure of all bunyaviruses are similar, although the different genera within the family differ in the details of their coding strategy.
Rodents are the reservoir for hantavirus.
Each species of hantavirus is generally harbored by a single predominant rodent species but closely related species of mice may harbour the same virus. Deer mice are infected at the highest frequency and represent the most abundant rodent species found around households where cases occurred. Deer mouse Horizontal transmission between mice may occur with biting, scratching and ingestion or inhalation of virus contaminated feces. Replication was found to occur in the lungs, heart and brown fat cells of deer mice. Virus antigen can be isolated using immunohistochemistry .