Hantavirus emergence through a One Health lens: ecological dynamics, human exposure and integrated surveillance

Abstract Hantaviruses are rodent-borne zoonotic viruses that cause haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Eurasia and hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome in the Americas. Although human hantavirus infections are usually recognised clinically, infection risk is affected by upstream factors including reservoir-host ecology, environmental variability and human exposure. Evidence from China, Europe and the Americas shows that the incidence of hantavirus may depend on rodent population dynamics, climate conditions, land use, agricultural practices, housing environments and recreational or travel-related exposure. In China, the seasonal pattern of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, including a major autumn–winter peak and a smaller spring or spring–summer peak in many endemic areas, illustrates how virus–host ecology and agricultural labour jointly affect the human risk. In Europe, bank vole population cycles have been shown to influence Puumala virus epidemics, while studies in the Americas have linked rainfall, rodent abundance and human exposure in domestic, occupational and recreational settings. This mini review synthesises evidence on the ecological drivers, exposure pathways and surveillance challenges for hantavirus diseases through a One Health lens. We suggest that One Health approaches should move beyond general calls for multisector collaboration towards evidence-informed surveillance linking rodent, environmental and human data to setting-specific prevention, such as issuing seasonal risk warnings and reinforcing exposure-reduction measures before harvest periods in endemic agricultural regions.