Hantavirus infection in the Province of Buenos Aires - Argentina. Characteristics of the time series 1997 – 2021

Abstract

Background: Hantavirus infection is endemic in South America, with a wide spectrum of severity and a fatality rate that varies between 17-40 percent. This study collects information from 25 years of epidemiological surveillance in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Aim: To characterize the behavior of the 1997-2021 time series, observing trends and seasonality. Methods: The time series function used the moving average centered according to quarterly periods, so that each year was divided into quartiles. A multiplicative model is missed. Results: With a mortality rate for the series of 0.15 per 100,000 and a fatality rate of 22.6, the male : female ratio was 3.4:1. The syndromic distribution showed greater renal involvement, with the mortality rate being practically the same in both sexes. Conclusion: As an infectious disease , hantavirus has reflected in the last 25 years a behavior, recurrent and seasonal, endemic and shared in its clinical characteristics with the rest of the Andean region.