Molecular characters of Hantaviruses, epidemiology and pathogenicity

Abstract

The year 2020 has indeed been a year of crisis after the outbreak of Novel Corona virus there was another virus that showed its presence, it was Hantavirus. Several Chinese news channels reported death of a man due to hanta virus and the other 32 people were tested along, those who were in contact. There was indeed a risk of another outbreak while the whole world was still suffering from the COVID-19 crisis. Several novel Hantaviruses with unknown pathogenic potential have been identified in a variety of insectivore hosts. With the new hosts, new geographical distributions of Hantaviruses have also been discovered and several new species were found in Africa. Hantavirus infection in humans can result in two clinical syndromes: haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) caused by Old World and New World hantaviruses, respectively. This review focuses on the molecular properties of Hantaviruses that were found in the recent outbreaks, with a focus on epidemiology, the pathogenicity is described in relation to human as a host also diagnostic and possible treatment approaches have been described, microbiology remains a choice of interest as it is important to know complete structural components of the virus in order to tackle and block the lethal pathogenic abilities. The pathogenesis is likely to be a complex multifactorial process that includes contributions from immune responses, platelet dysfunction and the deregulation of endothelial cell barrier functions. This review summarizes recent data documenting interactions established by pathogenic Hantaviruses with their natural or human hosts that could highlight their different outcomes.