Climate change as an amplifier of hantavirus risk in South Asia: a neglected nexus.

Abstract

Hantavirus is seroepidemiologically established in South Asian human populations and rodent reservoirs, with anti-hantavirus antibodies confirmed in occupational risk groups in India, an independent association with chronic kidney disease demonstrated in Sri Lanka, and co-infection with leptospirosis identified in more than one-fifth of hospitalized leptospirosis patients. Despite this, the intersection of these findings with the region's intensifying monsoon floods, rapid urbanization, and climate-driven rodent ecology remains entirely unexamined. This letter highlights the neglected climate-hantavirus nexus, identifies structural vulnerabilities that amplify transmission risk in South Asia, and calls for integrated flood-response surveillance and One Health coordination across the region.