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Ecological Dimensions of Hantavirus

Ecological Dimensions of Hantavirus. Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome (HCPS) in North America is a classic case of how ecological changes can play a primary role in the emergence of an infectious disease. Hantavirus diseases occur on all continents except perhaps Australia and Antarctica.

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Ecological Dimensions of Hantavirus

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  1. Ecological Dimensions of Hantavirus Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome (HCPS) in North America is a classic case of how ecological changes can play a primary role in the emergence of an infectious disease. • Hantavirus diseases occur on all continents except perhaps Australia and Antarctica. • Caused by an RNA virus pathogen, carried primarily by rodents. • Many different hantavirus strains exist worldwide, each in a different geographic location; some strains cause human disease. • Each disease-causing hantavirus type has a different primary rodent host.

  2. Ecological Dimensions of Hantavirus • Transmitted between mammals via aerosolized excretions. • Hantavirus disease is the most prevalent zoonotic disease in Russia. • Hantavirus disease case fatality rates can be as high as 15%. In the Americas, case fatality rates from HCPS can be as high as 50%. • Novel and widespread hantaviruses with unknown pathogenic potential have recently been discovered in Africa and India, as well as in non-rodent hosts such as shrews & voles.

  3. Ecological Drivers of HCPS Emergence: • Climate change -> altered precipitation and temperature patterns -> increased plant growth • Climate change -> milder winters -> greater rodent over-wintering rates • Introduction of invasives -> more food resources for rodents • More food, and better over-wintering success ->-> increased rodent (pathogen host) abundance • Fragmented landscape -> incomplete biological communities (e.g., reduced predator abundances) • Fewer predators -> high densities of prey species (e.g., rodents) • Increased edge habitat ->-> high densities of relevant prey species • Landscape changes & other human-driven disturbance -> decreased biodiversity -> dominance by a single rodent species -> increased intraspecific rodent interactions -> exponential increase of hantavirus prevalence (Dilution Effect) • Large pathogen populations in plentiful competent hosts PLUS large human populations in edge areas • -> HCPS emergence

  4. Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome (HCPS) in North America is a classic case of how ecological changes can play a primary role in the emergence of an infectious disease. Ecological Drivers of HCPS Emergence: Community disassembly

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