Although hantaviruses have been known to exist for over 40 years, they were thought only to
be the cause of hemorrhagic fever and renal syndrome (HFRS) in Europe and Asia. Rodents
are the primary hosts of hantaviruses, and humans become infected mainly by inhalation of
viral particles in the rodent excreta. The United States was thought to be spared from
pathologic hantaviruses until the summer of 1993, when an outbreak of acute respiratory
distress syndrome occurred in the Four Corners region of the United States, which includes …