RESUMEN
Hantaviruses are rodent-borne bunyaviruses transmitted from the rodents. Today numerous rodent species are carrying hantaviruses throughout the world. These group of viruses can cause one of two types of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) in human beings namely hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). In the spring of 1993, an unknown group of hantaviruses emerged in the United States as the cause of an acute respiratory disease currently termed as Hantavirus pulmonary symdrome (HPS), also referred to as hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS). HPS is characterized by an acute onset of headache, fever, hypovolemic hypotension, myalgia and respiratory failure. This review covers the distribution, virology, epidemiology, pathophysiology, symptoms, treatment and prevention of hantavirus causing HPS/HCPS.
RESUMEN
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome(HPS) is a systemic disease that is caused by a newly discorved and characterized virus of the Hantavirus genus, which is most frequently referred to as the sin nombre virus. The clinical syndrome resembles other hantavirus syndromes worldwide, except that it is characterized by a brief prodromal illness followed by rapidly progressive, noncardiogenic edema, and that it is more deadly than any previously recognized hantavirus infection. The clinical manifestations of HPS are characterized by four clinical phases prodrome, pulmonary edema and shock, diuresis, and convalescence. Mortality is greatest in the first 24 hours of the pulmonary edema and shock phase of the illness. These phases are strikingly similar to the clinical phases of Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome(HFRS) induced by Hantaan virus, except that HPS has not been associated with renal failure and Disseminated intravascular coagulation(DIC). We here report a case of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome developed in a 58 year-old man. He had a flu-like illness followed by the rapid onset of respiratory failure due to noncardiogenic pulmonary edema. HPS was diagnosed by clinical manifestations, identification of high titer antibody to Hantaan virus antigen and histologic finding of transbronchial lung biopsy (TBLB) specimen. The patient was treated with mechanical ventilation and initial corticosteroid pulse therapy resulting in successful outcome.