Julio I. We initiated a study to elucidate the ecology and epidemiology of hantavirus infections in northern Argentina. Most patients had a mild clinical course, and the death rate We performed a serologic and epidemiologic survey in residents of the area, in conjunction with a serologic study in rodents. The prevalence of hantavirus antibodies in the general human population was 6. No evidence of interhuman transmission was found, and the high prevalence of hantavirus antibody seemed to be associated with the high infestation of rodents detected in domestic and peridomestic habitats.
Hantaviruses family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus are zoonotic viruses of rodents that produce two major clinical syndromes in humans: hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome HFRS in Asia and Europe and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome HPS in the Americas. Of 21 patients tested between and , eight showed serologic evidence of recent leptospira infection by microscopic agglutination test, and 4 had a positive immunoglobulin Ig M enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ELISA using Hantaan virus antigen 2 , 3.
Ultimately, these patients were recognized as having HPS, and a new SNV-related hantavirus, now designated Oran virus, was recognized in the region 4. The first HPS cases in Jujuy Province were confirmed in , and since then, their number has been progressively increasing. A high percentage of confirmed cases had the usual nonspecific prodrome but were not followed by a distress syndrome. The case death rate 4 [ Some strains of hantavirus were then hypothesized to produce subclinical disease.
Some differences in the clinical signs and symptoms of HPS have been recognized in other areas of the Americas compared with those described after infections with SNV; these differences have included possible person-to-person transmission, a different spectrum of clinical illnesses, an elevated incidence of infections in children, and higher antibody prevalence 6. For instance, patients from the area under study had unusually mild clinical symptoms and low death rates, supporting the idea that a less pathogenic hantavirus could be circulating in that area or that host or environmental factors might be responsible for the observed pattern.
The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of hantavirus antibodies in the general population, identify risk factors, and investigate the rodent species implicated in hantavirus transmission in Yuto.
