Volume : 13, Issue : 06, June – 2026

Title:

SILENT SPILLOVER: THE GLOBAL THREAT OF HANTAVIRUS-A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Authors :

Ranilboopathi S, Kanthimathi Meenal CT

Abstract :

Hantaviruses are negative sense single-stranded RNA zoonotic viruses that transmit diseases to humans from rodent, shrew, mole and bat reservoirs and are responsible for two serious clinical syndromes, haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), occurring in various geographical areas. Hantavirus infection is an important, though under-recognized, public health problem, with an estimated human incidence of 200,000 cases per year globally, which is far from being covered by the international surveillance and pandemic preparedness system. The evidence from peer-reviewed literature and surveillance databases and outbreak investigation reports retrieved between 1993 and 2026 was synthesized using PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, WHO official reports, ECDC notification datasets, as well as other grey literature (LANL hantavirus database, Argentine Ministry of Health epidemiological bulletins). It was found that the taxonomy of hantavirus has been greatly expanded since its reclassification in 2017 from the genus Hantavirus to a new family Hantaviridae, which currently includes more than 53 recognized species in seven genera. China has the highest burden of HFRS in the world and Argentina experienced a significant HFRS epidemiological surge in 2025–2026. The distribution of reservoir species, immunopathological disease mechanisms driven by climate change through the integrin pathway and the lack of FDA approved vaccines or antiviral drugs, all point to the escalating threat of this issue. There is ongoing preclinical evaluation of new generation vaccine platforms such as mRNA, DNA and virus-like particle vaccines. Hantavirus is a largely under-recognized, yet manageable, public health threat to the world driven by climate change, land use change, and growing anthropological association with wild animals, which demands a One Health approach.
Keywords: Hantavirus, Zoonotic transmission, Haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), One Health, Climate change, Emerging infectious diseases

Cite This Article:

Please cite this article in press Ranilboopathi S et al., Silent Spillover: The Global Threat Of Hantavirus.., Indo Am. J. P. Sci, 2026; 13(06).

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