A genus of rodent-borne RNA viruses that cause severe disease in humans.
The genus was established in 1976 when South Korean virologist Ho Wang Lee isolated Hantaan virus along the Hantaan River, the agent of "Korean hemorrhagic fever" first described during the 1951–53 war.
There are roughly 25 recognised hantavirus species, each adapted to a different rodent reservoir. The most clinically important are Hantaan, Seoul, Puumala and Dobrava-Belgrade in Eurasia, and Sin Nombre, Andes, Bayou and Choclo in the Americas.
Andes virus is the only hantavirus species with documented person-to-person transmission. All other hantaviruses spread only from rodents to humans.