A short review of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and it's extrarenal complications

Abstract

Hantaviruses are enveloped tri-segmented negative-stranded RNA viruses. Infection from these viruses is growing in last decades. They are causative agent for two types of diseases: a) Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), mostly observed in Eurasia and b) Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HPS), mostly observed in American continent. There are several Hantaviruses known to infect humans, and their main hosts are rodents. HFRS is caused from Hantaan, Dobrava, Saaremaa, Seoul and Puumala virus. The main factor, which determines the severity of Hantavirus infection, is the degree of increased permeability of infected endothelium, and the most common clinical findings in those patients are fever, headache, abdominal pains, backache, myalgia and nausea or/and vomiting. There are already numerous publications with regards to the involvement of two major systems such as renal and pulmonary in patients with HFRS. In this paper we would try to make a short review about the involvement of other organs and systems of our body in those patients. Extrarenal manifestations of Hantavirus infection include: acute ocular impairment with visual function, acute myopia, central nervous system (CNS) complications, cardiovascular impairment with myocarditis, gastrointestinal hemorrhages, but liver and pancreas may be also affected.