[Of mice and men: social impact of an emerging illness]

In response to unexplained deaths in an Indian reserve of the southwestern United States, a fascinating scientific investigation rapidly led to the identification of a new infectious syndrome, the "Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome". The health promotion campaign that followed was remarkable for its large scale and for the efficiency of its delivery, but was not well received by the people on the reserve. This article demonstrates that the preventive guidelines were incompatible with the natives' popular beliefs and that the social trauma caused by the intervention could have been avoided since within the Indian tradition the disease was already well-defined and effective preventive means had been developed.