# Hantavirus Disease - Category: chronic - Review status: reviewed (every claim checked against a document named on this page) - Sources: Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf (NBK459378) - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459378/ · ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification of Primary Care, 3rd edition) class AD14.04 - condition scope only, no dose · No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care - Verified date: 2026-08 ## Verified against - No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care - Hantavirus Disease - disease-level clinical article (hantavirus-disease-full.txt) ## Treatment metadata - No drug therapy in primary care (Recognition & Referral) ## Complete treatment card ```text HANTAVIRUS DISEASE Sources: Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf (NBK459378) - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459378/ · ICPC-3 (WONCA International Classification of Primary Care, 3rd edition) class AD14.04 - condition scope only, no dose · No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care Review status: REVIEWED against No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care, Hantavirus Disease - disease-level clinical article (hantavirus- disease-full.txt) (2026-08) IS IT THIS? - reference only, to read alongside your own examination SYMPTOMS - what the patient reports (7) - Symptoms usually begin 7 to 39 days after exposure, starting with headache, muscle aches, vomiting, and abdominal pain [abdominal pain · headache · muscle pain · vomiting] - Roughly three to six days into the illness, breathlessness, fluid in the lungs, low blood pressure, and shock can develop quickly [breathlessness · hypotension · shock] - A history of contact with rodents, their droppings, or a rodent bite - especially in farming or forestry work - is a key exposure clue [animal bite] - There are two syndromes. Haemorrhagic fever renal syndrome brings acute kidney injury, thrombocytopenia, fever and low blood pressure [fever · hypotension] - The pulmonary syndrome instead brings fever, muscle aches and severe respiratory compromise, and belongs to North and South America [fever · muscle pain] - Red flag: the pulmonary syndrome often needs mechanical ventilation and kills up to 40%, against 1% to 15% for the renal one - It is caught by breathing in aerosolised urine or droppings, or from an animal bite, and the rodents carrying it are themselves perfectly well [animal bite] SIGNS - what you find (3) - Reduced urine output, petechiae, and bleeding may be observed [bleeding · petechiae] - Severe infection can cause metabolic acidosis - Cardiovascular collapse is a possible complication during the respiratory phase [collapse] TESTS (6) - An initial chest x-ray shows pulmonary edema in only about a third of patients, but nearly all show interstitial edema by 48 hours after admission - Roughly two-thirds of patients develop lower-lobe or central lung opacities with some degree of pleural fluid - Thrombocytopenia appears on blood counts once hospitalisation is required and helps predict how the disease will progress - A blood smear can show immature white cells along with severe thrombocytopenia, low sodium, and blood in the urine - Diagnosis relies on immunofluorescence, immunoblot testing, or an IgM ELISA, which is the preferred method - There is no cure, and the treatment is supportive IF NOT THIS - what else fits (4) - ARDS shares acute breathlessness with bilateral non-cardiogenic infiltrates and a PaO2/FiO2 ratio under 300, and is hard to distinguish from hantavirus - Broad-spectrum antibiotics for suspected mycobacterial pneumonia have not been shown to change outcomes in hantavirus infection - An influenza PCR test can help rule in influenza pneumonia rather than hantavirus - Viral haemorrhagic fevers need specific PCR testing to pin down a single causative organism Source StatPearls "Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome" - disease-level clinical article Status traced to the source above 1. NO DRUG THERAPY IN PRIMARY CARE (RECOGNITION & REFERRAL)[1st line] Adult Rodent-borne viral illness causing fever with renal or pulmonary syndromes. Not an established clinical entity in Egypt, so this is a recognise-and-refer diagnosis if ever suspected in someone with relevant travel or rodent exposure abroad. - Refer Peds Children follow the same pathway: recognise and refer. No primary-care medicine is implied. Source No dose - referral pathway, no medicine given in primary care Why Rodent-borne viral illness causing fever with renal or pulmonary syndromes. Not an established clinical entity in Egypt, so this is a recognise-and-refer diagnosis if ever suspected in someone with relevant travel or rodent exposure abroad. Caution Not endemic in Egypt. Relevant to a returning traveller or an imported case; consider the travel history before anything else. No medicine is prescribed for this in primary care - this entry is for recognition and referral. Anything given is decided by the service it is referred to. RED FLAG - Rapid respiratory compromise (dyspnea, pulmonary edema, hypotension, shock) develops 3 to 6 days after the initial prodrome. RED FLAG - Thrombocytopenia or a decreasing platelet count warrants immediate hospital admission. RED FLAG - Respiratory distress suggesting hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, oliguria or acute renal failure, or rodent exposure in a region where hantavirus is known to circulate. Prices are indicative (dataset snapshot 2026-06); verify with the pharmacy. ``` --- Dawaa Reference is a reference for prescribers, not a medical device, and does not replace clinical judgement. [Privacy policy](/privacy)