Peters C J, Khan Ali S
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
Clin Infect Dis. 2002 May 1;34(9):1224-31. doi: 10.1086/339864. Epub 2002 Apr 4.
The recognition of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) after the investigation of a cluster of unexplained respiratory deaths in the southwestern United States during the spring of 1993 showcased our ability to recognize new and emerging diseases, given the correct juxtaposition of a new clinical entity with circumscribed epidemiologic features that are analyzed with novel diagnostic methods. In less than a decade, HPS has become established as a pan-American zoonosis due to numerous viruses maintained by sigmodontine rodents with rodent- and virus-specific epidemiologic profiles. The classical features of the syndrome-acute febrile illness associated with prominent cardiorespiratory compromise after direct contact or inhalation of aerosolized rodent excreta-has been extended to include clinical variants, including disease with frank hemorrhage, that have confirmed that this syndrome is a viral hemorrhagic fever. Efforts are under way to refine prevention strategies, to understand the pathogenesis of the shock, and to identify therapeutic modalities.
1993年春季，在美国西南部对一组不明原因的呼吸死亡病例进行调查后，汉坦病毒肺综合征（HPS）得以确认。这表明，只要将新的临床实体与特定的流行病学特征正确地并列呈现，并运用新颖的诊断方法进行分析，我们就有能力识别新出现的疾病。在不到十年的时间里，由于多种病毒由稻鼠科啮齿动物传播，且具有啮齿动物和病毒特异性的流行病学特征，HPS已成为一种泛美地区的人畜共患病。该综合征的典型特征——直接接触或吸入雾化的啮齿动物排泄物后出现的急性发热性疾病，并伴有明显的心肺功能损害——已扩展至包括临床变异型，如伴有明显出血的疾病，这证实了该综合征是一种病毒性出血热。目前正在努力完善预防策略，了解休克的发病机制，并确定治疗方法。
