HANTAVIRUS PULMONARY SYNDROME IN A CHILEAN PATIENT WITH RECENT TRAVELIN BOLIVIA

A case of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) was serologically confir med in a critically ill patient in Santiago, Chile. The patient's clin ical course had many similarities to that of other HPS patients in Nor th and South America but was complicated by acute severe renal failure . The patient's history included self-reported urban and probable rura l rodent exposure during travel in Bolivia. Comparison of a viral sequ ence from an acute-phase serum sample with other known hantaviruses sh owed that the hantavirus nucleic acid sequence from the patient was ve ry similar to a virus recently isolated from rodents associated with H PS cases in Paraguay.