Hantavirus Andes outbreak and diagnostics

Recent reports highlight an outbreak caused by the Andes hantavirus, underscoring the importance of reliable diagnostics in emerging situations.

At Aidian, we distribute Reagena hantavirus diagnostic tests in Scandinavia.

A study by Navarrete et al. (2007) demonstrated that the Reagena POC Puumala IgM rapid test can efficiently detect Andes virus infections, despite being originally developed for Puumala virus.

This is explained by the high antigen cross reactivity between hantaviruses, which can support detection beyond a single strain.

In practice, this means such assays support:

• Early screening in suspected hantavirus infections
• Diagnostic preparedness when the circulating strain is unknown

Please find more information on the country specific product web pages:

• ReaScan+ Puumala IgM (SE)
• ReaScan+ Puumala IgM (NO)
• ReaScan+ Puumala IgM (DK)

Reference:

Navarrete M., Barrera C., Zaror L., Otth C. (2007). Rapid immunochromatographic test for hantavirus Andes contrasted with capture IgM ELISA for detection of Andes specific IgM antibodies. Journal of Medical Virology, 79(1): 41–44