Abstract
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a rare illness in eastern Canada. We present three cases of HPS among military personnel in Quebec. The three cases shared a common exposure to mouse excreta while engaged in military training in Alberta, a western province of Canada.
Highlights
The Hantavirus genus contains more than 20 species, each typically associated with a single rodent reservoir, resulting in geographically distinct human diseases
We describe an unusual cluster of three new cases of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) diagnosed in Quebec in June and July of 2015
Further Hantavirus typing was performed by direct sequencing of the amplicon with sequence analysis using NCBI Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) demonstrating similarity to Sin Nombre reference strains from Montana and Alberta
Summary
The Hantavirus genus (family Bunyaviridae) contains more than 20 species, each typically associated with a single rodent reservoir, resulting in geographically distinct human diseases. The clinical spectrum of Hantavirus infection includes nephropathia epidemica, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) [1]. As of December 31, 2014, 109 Canadian cases of HPS have been laboratoryconfirmed, averaging 5 cases yearly, mainly in the western provinces of Canada (Figure 1) [2]. The Sin Nombre strain is most commonly associated with HPS in Canada and the United States, reflecting the ubiquitous distribution of its reservoir, the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus. Only a single laboratory-confirmed case of Hantavirus infection has been reported in 2004 from eastern Canada, in the province of Quebec [3]. We describe an unusual cluster of three new cases of HPS diagnosed in Quebec in June and July of 2015
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