Hantavirus Risk by Country: A Traveller's Guide

Hantavirus is present on every inhabited continent except Australia, but risk varies enormously by location, season, and activity type. Most travellers have no meaningful hantavirus exposure risk. A minority — those hiking, camping, or staying in rural accommodation in specific endemic regions — face non-trivial risk that warrants targeted precautions.

This guide covers the regions where hantavirus genuinely matters for travellers, which strains to be aware of, and what protective measures are effective.

South America: Highest Risk, Most Lethal Strain

Primary strain: Andes virus (ANDV)
Disease: Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS)
Case fatality rate: 35–40%
Reservoirs: Oligoryzomys longicaudatus (long-tailed pygmy rice rat) and related species

Argentina and Chile

This is the highest-risk region on Earth for hantavirus travellers. The Patagonian steppe — covering most of southern Argentina and Chile — is the core endemic zone. Risk is concentrated in:

Rural cabins, refugios, and abandoned structures in Patagonia
Agricultural areas in Neuquén, Río Negro, and Chubut provinces (Argentina)
Hiking trails and camping areas in Nahuel Huapi National Park
The Chilean Lake District (Araucanía, Los Lagos, Los Ríos regions)

High-risk activities: Sleeping in rural structures that may have been infested with rodents; cleaning cabins or outbuildings; camping without sealed accommodation.

Traveller risk reality: Short-term visitors on standard tourist itineraries (hotels, guided trekking) face very low risk. The risk concentrates around staying in unventilated rural structures and disturbing rodent nesting sites.

Season: May to October (Southern Hemisphere winter). The risk does not disappear in summer but is substantially lower.

Brazil

Brazil records hantavirus cases annually, primarily in the southern states (Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul) and in agricultural zones of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. The dominant strain is Araraquara virus, which causes HPS with a CFR of approximately 40–50% in some clusters — even higher than Andes virus.

Risk for travellers is lower than in Patagonia because the reservoir habitat is primarily agricultural areas, not the wilderness zones that attract most foreign visitors.

North America: Lower CFR, But Still Serious

Primary strain: Sin Nombre virus (SNV)
Disease: Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS)
Case fatality rate: ~35%
Reservoir: Deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)

United States

The US averages 30–40 confirmed HPS cases annually, concentrated in the Four Corners region (New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah), California, Texas and Washington State. The 1993 Four Corners outbreak that first identified Sin Nombre virus killed 12 of the first 24 patients identified.

The most famous traveller-linked cluster was the 2012 Yosemite National Park outbreak, where ten visitors to the Curry Village tent cabins contracted HPS; three died. All cases were linked to rodent nesting in the wall insulation of the cabins.

High-risk activities in the US: Cleaning or ventilating long-closed cabins, barns or storage structures in the Southwest; camping in areas with heavy deer mouse activity; rural volunteer work involving disturbing soil or vegetation.

Low-risk activities: Standard hotel stays, urban visits, hiking on open trails.

Canada

Canada records fewer than 5 HPS cases per year on average, primarily in the Prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan) and British Columbia. Risk profile and reservoir are similar to the US.

The May 2026 case — a British Columbia resident who returned from MV Hondius — is the first Canadian case linked to an international travel event rather than domestic rodent exposure.

Europe: Low but Non-Zero Risk

Primary strains: Puumala virus (PUUV), Hantaan virus (HTNV), Seoul virus
Disease: Haemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS)
Case fatality rate: 0.1–12% depending on strain

European hantavirus causes a fundamentally different syndrome to the American strains — kidney failure (HFRS) rather than lung failure (HPS). Mortality is much lower, particularly for Puumala virus (CFR <1%).

High-risk areas: Fennoscandia (Finland, Sweden, Norway) for Puumala; the Balkans and central Europe for Dobrava virus (CFR 5–12%); Korea and parts of Russia for Hantaan.

Reservoir: Bank vole (Myodes glareolus) for Puumala; striped field mouse for Dobrava.

For travellers: European hantavirus risk is real for rural visitors in endemic seasons (spring and autumn), but the clinical consequence is much less severe than American strains. Puumala typically causes a flu-like illness with kidney involvement that resolves with supportive care.

Asia: High Incidence, Important for Rural Travellers

Primary strains: Hantaan virus (HTNV), Seoul virus
Disease: HFRS
Reservoir: Striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius), Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) for Seoul

China, South Korea, and Russia report the world’s highest total case counts for hantavirus, driven by Hantaan and Seoul virus exposure in agricultural and peri-urban settings. China alone reports thousands of HFRS cases annually.

High-risk groups in Asia: Agricultural workers, military personnel in field settings, rural residents. Travellers staying in standard accommodation face very low risk.

Seoul virus is globally distributed via the Norway rat and has caused sporadic clusters in North America and Europe, typically linked to rat breeding facilities or laboratory rats.

Practical Risk Reduction for Travellers

For all hantavirus regions:

Book sealed accommodation — avoid rural cabins, huts, or refugios that have been unoccupied for extended periods without professional cleaning.
Don’t sweep, vacuum or blow dust in potentially rodent-infested spaces without wet-mopping with disinfectant first.
Use an N95 respirator when cleaning any enclosed rural structure with visible rodent signs (droppings, gnaw marks, nesting material).
Seal food storage — do not leave food accessible to rodents in campsites or rural accommodation.
Know the incubation period — hantavirus typically causes symptoms 2–4 weeks after exposure (range 1–8 weeks). Track the calendar from your potential exposure date.

If symptoms develop after travel:

Fever, severe headache, muscle aches and back pain in the weeks following potential rodent exposure warrant urgent medical evaluation. Always tell your clinician where you have been and what rural activities you undertook. Hantavirus is not routinely tested in most emergency settings — clinical suspicion depends on you providing the exposure history.

For the current global risk picture, view the live outbreak map and read our symptoms guide for the full clinical detail.