Side-by-side comparison
| Hantavirus | Lassa fever | |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Hantaviridae | Arenaviridae |
| Geography | Worldwide — Americas, Asia, Europe | West Africa — Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea |
| Reservoir | Various wild rodents — species-specific | Multimammate rat (Mastomys natalensis) |
| Person-to-person spread | Andes only | Yes — significant nosocomial transmission |
| Case-fatality | 0.4–36% by species | ~1% community, 15% hospitalised |
| Treatment | Supportive; ribavirin for HFRS | Ribavirin substantially reduces mortality |
Two families, similar problem
Both hantaviruses and arenaviruses adapted to wild-rodent reservoirs and produce serious zoonotic disease in humans, sometimes with hemorrhagic features. Lassa fever, however, transmits between people much more readily than any hantavirus, making nosocomial outbreaks a recurrent feature of West African epidemiology.