What causes Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome?
HPS is caused by hantaviruses which are carried by wild rodents. The hantavirus responsible for the outbreak in the Southwestern U.S. in 1993 is named Sin Nombre virus, and is carried by the deer mouse. Since then, other hantaviruses have been found to cause HPS. These viruses have different rodent hosts, including the cotton rat and the white-footed mouse in the US and the long-tailed rice rat in Argentina and Chile. All rodents that host hantaviruses which cause HPS belong to a specific group called “the New-World rats and mice.
