UK hantavirus, renal failure, and pet rats

In November, 2012, a 28-year-old man, presented with a 4-day history of fever, shivers, sweating, and vomiting. He had type-2 diabetes, which was being treated with sitagliptin and metformin. On admission he had evi dence of a systemic infl ammatory response (temperature 39·3°C, pulse 160 bpm, respiratory rate 30 per min, white cell count 15·0×10⁹ per L, with 12·3 neutrophils and 0·2 mye locytes), abnormalities of blood clotting (INR 1·6, PTT 57 s, fi brinogen 0·99 g/L (normal range 1·5–4·5); plate lets 19×10⁹ per L), multi-organ failure (creatinine 167 μmol/L, raised alanine aminotransferase 511 U/L and bilirubin 87 μmol/L), progressive hypoxia, hyperglycaemia glucose 20·6 mmol/L), and lactic acidosis (PH 7·29, lactate 7·5 mmol/L). He was diagnosed with overwhelming sepsis and transferred to the intensive care unit. Initial treatment was with piperacillin-tazobactam, insulin, oxygen, and aggressive fl uid replacement, including platelet infusions, fresh frozen plasma, and cryo-precipitate. Ventilatory support was required 15 h after admission, at which time he was anuric. Renal replace-ment therapy was needed for 21 days and ventilatory support for 38 days, partly because of pseudomonas superinfection of the chest that was diagnosed on day 17.Tests for legionella and leptospira and initial blood cultures were negative. Serum taken 30 days after admission had a high IgG titre to Seoul hantavirus (1:10 000 by IFA, Euroimmun, Medizinische Labor-diagnostika AG), although serum from 1 month before admission (sent for hepatitis screening because of a mild transaminasaemia) was negative. Hantavirus RNA was not detected in either sample. We learnt that he kept two pet agouti rats (