Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome—A Clinical Perspective

Several clinically defined diseases occurring across Europe and Asia share features of fever, abdominal or back pain, renal failure, and varying degrees of hemorrhage. These afflictions, collectively termed hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), may be acquired from wild rodents or urban rats. Recent isolations of Hantaan and related viruses have confirmed relationships among severe HFRS disease types, such as Korean hemorrhagic fever, and milder clinical varieties (nephropathia epidemica-like). Because of the global distribution of Hantaan-like viruses, clinicians everywhere, particularly those dealing with military populations, should be alert to basic HFRS disease features to allow serologic confirmation and appropriate management of suspected cases.