[Hantavirus infection: a "new" exotic zoonosis among us]

Hantavirus disease is a recently recognized zoonosis. The main vectors are infected but healthy wild rodents or laboratory rats. Transmission to man occurs via inhalation of aerosolised excretions. Kidneys or lungs are the target organs during the disease, but a systemic affection with multi-organ involvement is possible, and can be fatal. To date, at least 16 different serotypes of hantavirus have been characterized, 8 of them being of clinical importance. Each serotype has its own rodent vector and its own geographical spread. In Europe, the red bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) is the main rodent vector carrying the Puumala serotype which is the etiologic agent of a viral affection known as nephropathia epidemica (NE). Belgium witnessed in 1993 its most important NE outbreak with more than 60 cases in the southern part of the region between Sambre and Meuse, Chimay being the main focus.