Rodents are implicated in the epidemiology of many of the vector-borne diseases in Europe; this chapter will consider only those infections that are directly transmitted from rodents to humans. This group of infections is of considerable importance to human health.

Few other animal groups live in closer contact with man than rodent populations and particularly the commensal rodents. Rodents are the largest family of mammals with some 1500 species divided into 30 families. Rodents are found native on all continents except Antarctica. Globally, rodents are of immense importance both because of their depredations on crops, the structural damage they may cause and as carriers of disease.

The hantaviruses

Hantaviruses, the causative agents for haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), are viruses in the genus Hantavirus of the family Bunyaviridae with a worldwide distribution; there are some 25 distinct viruses in the group. Hantaviruses are not known to be transmitted by an arthropod vector. The natural hosts of these viruses are rodents. Hantavirus virions are excreted from infected rodents via saliva, urine and faeces, and humans may become infected through inhalation of aerosols of dried excreta, inoculation through the conjunctiva, or entry through broken skin or rodent bites.

Haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome is a group of clinically similar diseases that occur throughout Eurasia. It is mainly seen in Europe and Asia; one causative agent, the Seoul virus, is found worldwide and has been associated with cases of HFRS in the USA.