Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome


A severe lung condition caused by hantavirus infection. Abbreviated HPS. In 1993, HPS struck the Four Corners area (where the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah meet) with devastating, frequently fatal consequences. As the name indicates, HPS is due to a hantavirus. The HPS outbreak in Four Corners followed 2 years of more rain, more foliage, and more deer mice than usual.

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  • Hantavirus

    A group of viruses that cause hemorrhagic fever and pneumonia. The hantaviruses include the hantaan virus that causes Korean (and Manchurian) hemorrhagic fever. Hantaviruses are transmitted to humans by direct or indirect contact with the saliva and excreta of rodents, such as deer mice, field mice, and ground voles.

  • HAPE

    Acronym for High Altitude pulmonary edema, the accumulation in the lungs of extravascular fluid (fluid outside of blood vessels) at high altitude, a consequence of rapid altitude ascent, especially when that ascent is accompanied by significant exercise. HAPE leads to dyspnea (shortness of breath), cough, tachycardia (fast heart rate) and decreased arterial oxygen levels. HAPE […]

  • Haploid

    A set of chromosomes that contains only one member of each chromosome pair. The sperm and egg are haploid and, in humans, each has 23 chromosomes.

  • Hapten

    In immunology, a molecule that is incapable, alone, of causing the production of antibodies but which can do so when fastened to a larger antigenic molecule called a carrier. The term “hapten” was taken from the Greek verb “haptein” meaning “to fasten or bind.” Haptin and haptene are alternative forms of this term that was […]

  • Haploinsufficiency

    A situation in which the total level of a gene product (a particular protein) produced by the cell is about half of the normal level and that is not sufficient to permit the cell to function normally. Another way to define haploinsufficiency is as a condition that arises when the normal phenotype requires the protein […]


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