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Definition of "hantavirus" [hantavirus]

  • Any of a group of viruses carried by rodents that cause epidemic hemorrhagic fever and severe respiratory infections in humans. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "hantavirus" in a sentence
  • "When a rare microbe called the hantavirus killed 34 people in the West last year, it was easy, if wrong, to write it off as "the Navajo virus.""
  • "Diseases based on a zoonotic (animal-to-human) vector, including malaria and other killers such as hantavirus, require a nuanced understanding of the transmission cycle."
  • "Rodent-borne diseases such as hantavirus, leptospirosis, bartonellosis and plague are likely common within many rodent populations in Canada."