11. Discussion
From the panorama of hantaviruses
depicted above, hantaviruses circulate in various mammals (e.g., bats,
rodents, shrews, and moles), amphibians, and fish widely in the world,
and some hantaviruses are highly pathogenic to humans. They usually
infect humans through animal-to-human transmission. In recent years, the
taxonomy of Hantaviridae has been greatly expanded and revised,
and research targeting various aspects of this important virus family
has made significant progress.
In the years to come, numerous research advances in Hantaviridaecan be anticipated. Novel genera or species within this family will be
discovered, particularly from novel regions or host species. For
instance, the suspected novel hantaviruses Rusne virus from the
root vole in Lithuania and Academ virus from moles in Russia were
reported recently.99,100 Some genomic segments of
important known hantaviruses (e.g., Lena virus and El Moro
Canyon virus ) will be sequenced and analyzed. The structures and
functions of more proteins of hantaviruses will be revealed. More
evolutionary and ecological features of hantaviruses, including the
roles of pigs and mites, in hantavirus transmission, will be further
explored, and the phylogenetic distribution and pathogenesis of more
hantaviruses will be clarified. More vaccines (e.g., mRNA vaccines) and
other measures to control highly pathogenic hantaviruses will be
evaluated. The panorama of hantaviruses depicted in this review can be a
valuable reference for these explorations.