Mammals

Division of Mammals

open weekdays 8am - 5pm
visitors welcome by appointment
information for visitors

phone: (505) 277-1360
fax: (505) 277-1351
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Division of Mammals
Museum of Southwestern Biology
1 University of New Mexico
MSC03-2020
Albuquerque, NM 87131
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Division of Mammals
Museum of Southwestern Biology
CERIA Building 83 Room 204
302 Yale Blvd NE
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131

Hantavirus Research

Research into emerging viruses is a new and breaking field. Rather than concentrating on particular aspects (such as epidemiology or etiology), the work being undertaken at the University of New Mexico is of an integrative nature in that it begins with basic ecological research of the vector organisms, infection rates among vectors, climatic factors affecting resource availability in rodent hosts, and even to predictive models of future outbreak scenarios, using a multivariate analysis of past outbreaks (including the initial 1993 episode) to understand the underlying mechanisms involved in epizoonoses.

This research is being undertaken in cooperation with the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Yavapai College, and Colorado State University. In association with our emerging virus work, Museum of Southwestern Biology serves as a repository for mammal voucher specimens and tissue samples collected by the CDC and various departments of health during disease outbreak investigations in the U.S. and worldwide.


sin nombre virus
Our long-term research in the southwestern U.S. focuses primarily on Sin Nombre Virus, which is carried by the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) and causes Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS). We are currently in the middle of long-term research being conducted at sites in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado.
programa de investigacion hantavirus
In addition to our U.S. research, we are also involved in both short-term and long-term projects focusing on hantaviruses and arenaviruses in Central and South America