title: Discovery of hantaviruses and of the Hantavirus genus: personal and historical perspectives of the Presidents of the International Society of Hantaviruses.
abstract: We three authors, the two past presidents (HWL and AV) and the current president (CSS) of the International Society for Hantaviruses (ISH) have attended most of the nine International Conferences on HFRS, HPS and Hantaviruses (Table 1). These conferences have provided a forum for a synergistic group of clinicians, basic researchers, mammalogists, epidemiologists and ecologists to share their expertise and interests in all aspects of hantavirus research. Much of what is now hantavirus dogma was only conjecture when HWL organized the first conference in Seoul, Korea in 1989. Herein, we provide our reflections on key events in hantavirus research. As we come from distinct areas of the world and have had individual historical experiences, we certainly have our own geocentric opinions about the key events. Nevertheless, we agree that the discovery of hantaviruses has taken an interesting and unpredictable track to where we are today.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Korea University College of Medicine, 5-ga, Anam-dong, Seoul 136-705, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ho Wang
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Haartman Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vaheri
authors.affiliation: Molecular Virology, Virology Division, USAMRIID, 1425 Porter Street, Ft. Detrick, Frederick, MD 21702-5011, USA. Electronic address: connie.schmaljohn@us.army.mil.
authors.forename: Connie S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Schmaljohn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*; D018778:Hantavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D018804:Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history* / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission; D006480:Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history* / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology; D012377:Rodentia; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014773:Virology / Q000266:history*
keywords: Hantaan virus; Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome; Hantaviruses; Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome; International Society for Hantaviruses