Global Warming and Epidemic Trends of an Emerging Viral Disease in Western-Europe: The Nephropathia Epidemica Case

Hantaviruses were first described in Korea in 1978, and are an important group of “new” pathogens, now constituting the most widely distributed zoonotic (i.e. transmitted from vertebrated animals to humans) viruses on earth. Hantaviruses are “emerging” viruses, and are now confirmed as being the only viral haemorrhagic fever agents with a worldwide distribution, including even the temperate Northern hemisphere (Clement et al. 2007a). They are spread by wild rodents (and perhaps also by insectivores), infecting man via their aerosolized but infectious excreta. So far, at least 23 different hantavirus species are officially recognized, each with its own main rodent reservoir, and hence specific geographical spread (Maes et al, 2009)...