RESUMO
Hantavirus-induced diseases are emerging zoonoses with endemic appearances and frequent outbreaks in different parts of the world. In humans, hantaviral pathology is characterized by the disruption of the endothelial cell barrier followed by increased capillary permeability, thrombocytopenia due to platelet activation/depletion and an overactive immune response. Genetic vulnerability due to certain human leukocyte antigen haplotypes is associated with disease severity. Typically, two different hantavirus-caused clinical syndromes have been reported: hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS). The primarily affected vascular beds differ in these two entities: renal medullary capillaries in HFRS caused by Old World hantaviruses and pulmonary capillaries in HCPS caused by New World hantaviruses. Disease severity in HFRS ranges from mild, e.g. Puumala virus-associated nephropathia epidemica, to moderate, e.g. Hantaan or Dobrava virus infections. HCPS leads to a severe acute respiratory distress syndrome with high mortality rates. Due to novel insights into organ tropism, hantavirus-associated pathophysiology and overlapping clinical features, HFRS and HCPS are believed to be interconnected syndromes frequently involving the kidneys. As there are no specific antiviral treatments or vaccines approved in Europe or the USA, only preventive measures and public awareness may minimize the risk of hantavirus infection. Treatment remains primarily supportive and, depending on disease severity, more invasive measures (e.g., renal replacement therapy, mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) are needed.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Frequent outbreaks around the globe and endemic appearance in different parts of the world emphasize the substantial risk of hantavirus diseases. Increasing incidence rates, trends of changing distribution of hantavirus species and new insights into clinical courses of hantavirus diseases call for multinational surveillance. Furthermore, evidence-based guidelines for the management of hantavirus diseases and scoring systems, which allow stratification of patients into risk categories, are lacking. METHODS: Hantavirus registry (HantaReg) is a novel registry platform facilitating multinational research of hantavirus-caused diseases, such as haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS). HantaReg provides an electronic case report form and uses the General Data Protection Regulation compliant platform clinicalsurveys.net, which can be accessed from any internet browser in the world. Having a modular structure, the registry platform is designed to display or hide questions and items according to the documented case (e.g. patient with HFRS versus HCPS) to facilitate fast, but standardized, data entry. Information categories documented in HantaReg are demographics, pre-existing diseases, clinical presentation, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, as well as outcome. CONCLUSIONS: HantaReg is a novel, ready-to-use platform for clinical and epidemiological studies on hantavirus diseases and facilitates the documentation of the disease course associated with hantavirus infections. HantaReg is expected to promote international collaboration and contributes to improving patient care through the analysis of diagnostic and treatment pathways for hantavirus diseases, providing evidence for robust treatment recommendations. Moreover, HantaReg enables the development of prognosis-indicating scoring systems for patients with hantavirus disease.
