Haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Singapore.

Dear Editor, Hantaviruses are enveloped negative stranded RNA viruses (family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus) transmitted to humans via aerosols or direct contact from inapparent infection from rodents of the Muridae and Cricetidae families. Two distinct clinical forms are recognised: haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), a severe acute febrile illness with renal and hepatic dysfunction found in Eurasia1,2 and hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) found in the Americas.1 In contrast to China and South Korea, where annual incidence of HFRS reaches more than 11,000 and 300 cases respectively,1,3 reports of human HFRS in Southeast Asia are lacking. We report 2 patients with HFRS in Singapore who had frequent travel to Malaysia.