Reported Cases of Hantavirus Disease

Hantavirus Infection in the United States

National surveillance for hantavirus infections in the United States began in 1993 during an outbreak of severe respiratory illness in the Four Corners region, and Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) became nationally notifiable in 1995. The presence of fever and pulmonary symptoms in a patient with laboratory-confirmed evidence of hantavirus infection is required for a HPS case to be reported through the Nationally Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. In 2014, the Council of State & Territorial Epidemiologists resolved to expand the national reporting of laboratory confirmed hantavirus infections to include HPS and non-pulmonary hantavirus infection. The first year of reporting of non-pulmonary hantavirus cases was 2015.

As of January 2017, a total of 728 cases of Hantavirus Infection have been reported in the United States. This includes people with laboratory-confirmed hantavirus infection who have either hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) or non-pulmonary hantavirus infection. Of these, 697 cases occurred from 1993 onward, following the initial identification of HPS, whereas 31 cases were retrospectively identified. Thirty-six percent of all reported HPS cases have resulted in death.

Of persons ill with HPS, 63% have been male, 37% female.

The mean age of confirmed case patients is 38 years (range: 5 to 84 years).

Hantavirus Infection can strike anyone. However, Whites currently account for 78% of all cases. American Indians account for about 18% of cases. African Americans for 1% of cases, and Asians for 1% of cases. Of cases with known ethnicity, 19% of Hantavirus cases have been reported among Hispanics (ethnicity considered separately from race).

Cases have been reported in 36 states. More than 96% of reported cases have occurred in states west of the Mississippi River.

Hantavirus in the United States Case Maps and Charts

• State of Exposure
• Reporting States
• State of Residence
• Annual United States Hantavirus Cases and Case-fatality

Hantavirus outside of the United States

Outside of North America, numerous individual cases and small clusters of Hantavirus cases have been reported in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Panama and Uruguay and Venezuela. Large outbreaks have been rare and have usually been associated with human disturbance and land-use changes or with unusual environmental events such as increased rainfall or periodic bamboo flowering.

Related Links

• State Health Department Contacts