Home/ Glossary/ Viral shedding Viral shedding The release of virus from an infected host into the environment. Rodent shedding is what creates the environmental hantavirus burden that humans inhale. Related glossary terms Hantavirus A genus of rodent-borne RNA viruses that cause severe diseas… Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) A severe, often fatal lung disease caused by New World hanta… Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) A severe kidney-and-bleeding disease caused by Old World han… Case-fatality ratio (CFR) The proportion of confirmed cases of a disease that result i… Reservoir host A species in which a pathogen circulates persistently and as…