CLASSIFIED · CASE FILE V-1993 · DECLASSIFIED FOR PUBLIC REVIEW · LIVE FEED
Section 04 · Documented cases
The people behind the case numbers.
Six clusters from the public record. Each case is named, dated and cited in CDC MMWR, peer-reviewed journals, or the Pan American Health Organization surveillance archive. Imagery on this page is representative — individuals depicted are not the named patients.
CASE · MAY 1993
Four Corners · Navajo Nation
The index case · M.B., 19
Young, athletic, otherwise healthy. Developed flu-like symptoms after a period at a rural family home. Within 48 hours of the cardiopulmonary phase he could not breathe without ventilation. Died days after first presenting to hospital. His fiancée died shortly after with identical symptoms.
Within six weeks the CDC documented around 30 cases across New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah. The case-fatality ran well above 60%. Most patients were young, healthy and rural — the demographic least expected to die in 48 hours from the flu.
⛯ Duchin et al., NEJM · 1994
CASE · 1996
El Bolson · Patagonia · Argentina
First documented person-to-person cluster
Eighteen cases. Four deaths. Andes virus. For the first time anywhere on Earth, a hantavirus was documented spreading directly between people — through close-quarters contact, not just rodent exposure. The cluster rewrote the textbook.
Ten confirmed HPS cases. Three deaths. All visitors had stayed in insulated tent-cabins; deer mice had nested inside the wall cavities. CDC and NPS evacuated and dismantled 91 cabins.
⛯ Núñez et al., MMWR · 2014
CASE · 2018–19
Epuyen · Patagonia · Argentina
A birthday party · twenty-nine cases · eleven deaths
A 60th birthday celebration in late 2018 became the largest documented Andes-virus person-to-person outbreak ever recorded. Genomic analysis confirmed direct chains of human-to-human transmission. Argentine health authorities imposed quarantine.
⛯ Alonso et al., Lancet Infect Dis · 2020
ONGOING
USA · ongoing surveillance
~850 cumulative US cases · roughly one in three died
Since 1993 the CDC has recorded around 850 cumulative confirmed HPS cases across 39 US states. The case-fatality has held steady at roughly 38%. That is over 320 people. Most of them died from a virus most of their neighbours had never heard of.
▌ HANTAVIRUS WATCH · CDC HPS ACROSS 39 US STATES · ▌ ANDES VIRUS · PERSON-TO-PERSON SPREAD CONFIRMED · ▌ EL NIÑO 2023-24 ROUTED WET WINTERS TO THE SOUTHWEST · ▌ ROBERT KOCH INSTITUTE · PUUMALA CASES RISING · ▌ EPUYEN ARGENTINA · 29 CASES · 11 DEATHS · ▌ NO LICENSED HUMAN VACCINE AS OF 2026 · ▌ 38% CASE FATALITY IN CONFIRMED HPS · ▌ 1993 FOUR CORNERS · 30 INITIAL CASES · ▌ YOSEMITE 2012 · CURRY VILLAGE · 91 CABINS DISMANTLED · ▌