Los Santos Province, Azuero Peninsula, Panama
Choclo hantavirus HPS · Los Santos Province, Azuero peninsula · verified historical
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Summary
Large Choclo virus (CHOV) outbreak in Panama reported in WHO Disease Outbreak News on 4 January 2019, covering January–December 2018. National laboratory-confirmed cases reached 103, of which 99 occurred in Los Santos Province on the Azuero peninsula — 51 classified as hantavirus fever without pulmonary syndrome and 48 as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), with 4 deaths, all among HPS patients aged over 60. The reservoir is the Costa Rican pygmy rice rat (Oligoryzomys costaricensis). Cases peaked in February 2018 and again between June and September 2018.
Why this matters
One of the largest documented Choclo virus annual outbreaks since the agent was characterized in 1999–2000. Underscored the relatively mild clinical phenotype of CHOV (a substantial fraction of cases as fever-only without pulmonary syndrome) and reinforced Los Santos as the regional CHOV hotspot.
Sources
- T1 Hantavirus disease – Panama (Disease Outbreak News, 4 January 2019) World Health Organization · 2026-05-07
- T2 Hantavirus in Panama: Twenty Years of Epidemiological Surveillance Experience Viruses (PubMed Central) · 2026-05-07