Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome News and Research

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Decades of research reveal surprising secrets about hantavirus evolution

Thirty years ago, it was our common sense understanding that hantavirus does not and perhaps cannot spread from human to human. It turns out there is one exception: a strain called the Andes virus.

2 Jul 2026

Scientists discover 70 existing drugs that block deadly hantavirus infections

Researchers screened over 5,000 compounds and successfully pinpointed 70 existing drugs, including unexpected beta-lactam antibiotics, that effectively suppress Puumala orthohantavirus infection in human cells. This milestone drug-repurposing study provides an immediate, fast-tracked pipeline for developing the first approved treatments against life-threatening hantavirus diseases.

28 Jun 2026

Study finds widespread hantavirus exposure among Pacific Northwest rodent populations

The Sin Nombre virus – a hantavirus that can cause a deadly respiratory disease in humans – may be more widespread among rodent populations in parts of the Pacific Northwest than previously recognized.

21 May 2026

Health experts outline symptoms and risks of shipboard hantavirus

It's one of the cruisegoer's biggest fears: a contagious disease outbreak at sea.

18 May 2026

How Andes virus super-spreaders reveal the risk behind the MV Hondius hantavirus cluster

A 2020 NEJM study of the 2018 to 2019 Epuyén outbreak showed that Andes virus spread from one zoonotic introduction into four generations of human infection, causing 34 cases and 11 deaths. The findings are newly relevant after WHO reported an ANDV cluster linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship, where close indoor exposure may have enabled onboard human-to-human transmission.

14 May 2026

Hantavirus scare on cruise ship prompts WHO response

Hantavirus infections among cruise ship passengers have sparked a global health response, highlighting the need for effective outbreak management strategies.

7 May 2026

Cruise ship-linked hantavirus cases highlight zoonotic infection risks

The Global Virus Network (GVN), representing eminent human and animal virologists from more than 90 Centers of Excellence and Affiliates in over 40 countries dedicated to advancing research, collaboration, and pandemic preparedness, is closely monitoring reports of a hantavirus cluster linked to a cruise ship traveling in the Atlantic, which has resulted in multiple severe cases and fatalities.

5 May 2026

NIH funds new research to combat emerging viruses

Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a five-year, $14 million per year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to participate in a broad national effort to develop "plug-and-play" vaccines and antibody-based therapies against a wide range of emerging viruses. The grant is part of NIAID's new Research and Development of Vaccines and Monoclonal Antibodies for Pandemic Preparedness (ReVAMPP) Network, which was announced earlier today.

14 Sep 2024

Southern expansion of hemorrhagic fever virus in Sweden linked to bank voles

Researchers have discovered that bank voles in Skåne, southern Sweden, carry a virus that can cause hemorrhagic fever in humans.

22 Mar 2024

International scientific team reports 'super-spreader' potential of Andes virus

"Super-spreader" events and extensive person-to-person contact propelled an outbreak of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in a small village in Argentina from 2018-2019, according to research published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

3 Dec 2020

NIH-funded study finds how hantaviruses infect the lungs

A human protein associated with asthma is key to how hantaviruses infect the lungs and sometimes cause a life-threatening pulmonary condition known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, according to researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health.

26 Nov 2018

Scientists identify key protein involved in Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome

A global team of investigators has identified a key protein involved in Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, a serious and sometimes fatal respiratory disease, according to research published today in the journal Nature.

22 Nov 2018

Species diversity can have positive and negative impacts on disease transmission

Biodiversity is disappearing at an alarming rate as infectious diseases increasingly spill over from wildlife to humans.

19 Jul 2018

Study provides proof of concept for developing antibodies against human pathogens

Scientists investigating the potentially deadly hantavirus have used a novel approach to developing protective antibodies against it. Their work, published in today's online edition of Science Translational Medicine, provides proof of concept for producing antibodies against a broad range of human pathogens.

28 Nov 2014

Researchers develop animal model of human hantavirus pulmonary syndrome

National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers have developed an animal model of human hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in rhesus macaques, an advance that may lead to treatments, vaccines and improved methods of diagnosing the disease.

29 Apr 2014

UTMB experts honored with Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to study of deadly diseases

The global experts who study the deadliest infectious diseases recognized the contributions of Frederick A. Murphy and Thomas G. Ksiazek, professors at the University of Texas Medical Branch, with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 6th annual International Symposium on Filoviruses. The filoviruses include Ebola and Marburg viruses that cause death in 50 to 90 percent of people infected. The current outbreak of Ebola virus raging in West Africa has caused more than 100 deaths so far.

16 Apr 2014

Green on satellite images warns of hantavirus outbreaks

The risk of deadly hantavirus outbreaks in people can be predicted months ahead of time by using satellite images to monitor surges in vegetation that boost mouse populations, a University of Utah study says. The method also might forecast outbreaks of other rodent-borne illnesses worldwide.

15 Feb 2011

Habitat destruction and biodiversity loss can increase the incidence of infectious diseases

The extinction of plant and animal species can be likened to emptying a museum of its collection, or dumping a cabinet full of potential medicines into the trash, or replacing every local cuisine with McDonald's burgers.

4 Dec 2009

Predicted Hantavirus risk in 2006 for the Southwestern U.S.

The Four Corners region of the United States (where Ariz., N.M., Colo. and Utah meet) will be at greater risk for hantavirus outbreak this year than in 2005, say scientists at Johns Hopkins University, the University of New Mexico, and other institutions.

12 Jul 2006

Health officials urge precautions after confirming year’s first case of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome

The Arizona Department of Health Services is urging the public to take appropriate precautions when living or working in rodent infested areas, following the confirmation of the state’s first case of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) in 2005.

23 Apr 2005