Clinical course and laboratory parameters of the first Dobrava-Belgrade hantavirus infection imported to Germany.

摘要

Hantaviruses are enveloped viruses with a segmented negative-stranded RNA genome belonging to the family Bunyaviridae. The vast majority of all currently known hantaviruses is carried and transmitted to humans by certain persistently infected rodent reservoir hosts (Schmaljohn and Hjelle, 1997). Human hantavirus infections in Europe can cause haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) of variable severity. The clinical course of HFRS is characterised by five phases: febrile, hypotensive, oliguric, polyuric and convalescent (Lee, 1991). Hypotensive phase and symptoms of abdominal pain, facial flushing, and tissue oedema are thought to be manifestations of increased capillary permeability and vascular leakage, which characteristically occur in patients with HFRS (Cosgriff, 1991).