Hantavirus Infections

Hantaviruses produce acute febrile diseases, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS). Most hantavirus diseases (HCPS and HFRS) are rapidly progressive and often confused with other severe diseases, such as bacterial sepsis with respiratory failure, pneumocystosis, and leptospirosis. Immunoblotting is used to detect antibodies to specific hantavirus proteins previously separated and immobilized after electrophoresis. Highly sensitive and fast serodiagnostic tests for hantavirus include those using immunochromatography and stain revelation with protein A-labeled colloidal gold. In order to improve control measures in serologic assays detecting IgM to hantavirus, tests of positive samples, besides the test with negative antigen control, should be performed in duplicate, and their results should also be compared to the results observed with positive and negative controls. The RNA of hantavirus is present in samples from viremic symptomatic patients at the acute phase of infection.