Research into emerging viruses is a new and breaking field. Rather than concentrating on particular aspects (such as epidemiology, etiology, or such) 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. 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). View distribution of the deer mouse and SNV cases. We are currently in the seventh year of long-term research being conducted at sites in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado.

Longitudinal Studies of Rodent Reserviors of Hantaviruses in the American Southwest

In addition to our U.S. research, we are also involved in both short and long-term projects focusing on hantaviruses and arenaviruses in Central and South America. View new world Hantaviruses.

In association with our emerging virus work, the Division of Mammals and Division of Genomic Resources of the Museum of Southwestern Biology serve 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.

Selected Hantavirus Publications