Hantavirus

Causes

What causes hantaviruses? How are they spread?

Hantaviruses are a group of viruses that can cause severe illness in humans. There are several different types of hantaviruses found around the world and each can cause a different disease.

The 2 most prevalent illnesses caused by a hantavirus infection are:

• Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (found in North and South America)
• Haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (found mainly in Europe and Asia)

People get the virus from infected mice, rats and other rodents. Different types of rodents carry different types of hantaviruses. In North America, five different rodents are known hantavirus carriers:

• deer mouse
• cotton rat
• rice rat
• white footed-mouse
• red-backed vole

Additional rodents around the world are also carriers of hantavirus. So it is best to avoid close contact with rodents in Canada and abroad.

People can become infected with a hantavirus when they:

• inhale virus particles from rodent urine, droppings or saliva that have been released into the air
• touch objects or eat food contaminated with the urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents
• are bitten by a rodent infected with the virus—this rarely occurs

With the exception of the Andes hantavirus, the virus does not spread through person-to-person contact.