EPIDEMIOLOGY AND LABORATORY DIAGNOSIS OF HANTAVIRUS (HTV) INFECTIONS

Hantavirus (HTV) is a recently discovered ''hemorrhagic fever virus'' belonging to the Bunyaviridae family, which is spread throughout the w orld by wild rodents and/or laboratory rats. During an epidemic in the Belgian-French Ardennes in 1993, more than 200 acute cases were recor ded of the milder European form of HTV-illness, otherwise known as Nep hropathia epidemica (NE). This variant may be recognized by the sudden onset of fever, acute renal failure, thrombocytopenia and sometimes b y ophthalmologic complications. The symptomatology is rather aspecific and diagnosis can only be confirmed by serologic tests, of which the best option nowadays seems to be: screening by IgG EIA, followed by Ig M confirmation with a mu-capture EIA test. Some of the tests described allow an evaluation of the causative serotype or even the moment of i nfection. Next to the ''classic'' serologic assays for detection of sp ecific viral antibodies, we describe briefly our own experience with n ewer tests such as ''high density particle agglutination'' and ''line immune assay''. Polymerase chain reaction for viral RNA genome typing and immunohistochemical colouring of the viral antigen in tissues seem to offer promising alternatives for the immediate future.