Definition of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome: Abbreviated HPS. A disease that struck the Four Corners area (where the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah meet) in 1993 with devastating, frequently fatal consequences. As the name indicates, it is due to a Hantavirus. Hantavirus transmission to humans is by contact direct or indirect with the saliva and excreta of rodents such as deer mice, field mice, and ground voles. The HPS outbreak in Four Corners followed two years in which there was more rain, more foliage, and more deer mice than usual.