Andes virus: supporting response to the current hantavirus outbreak

By the Pathoplexus Team - 11 May 2026

Pathoplexus has launched support for Andes virus (ANDV), the species of hantavirus responsible for the current outbreak linked to the MV Hondius. This launch provides a space for researchers and public health teams to submit, search, download, and analyse Andes virus genomic data. Four teams, from four different countries, have already submitted genomes from the current outbreak since our launch on the evening of Saturday 9 May.

At the time of writing Pathoplexus has received four sequences from the current outbreak:

• A sequence generated by Erasmus MC in the Netherlands, PP_006W3U9, also described on Virological on May 10.
• A sequence generated by the Geneva Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases in Switzerland, also described on Virological on May 8. This direct submission has since been replaced by the Open version of the sequence, as submitted to INSDC: PP_006WBLH.
• A sequence generated by the Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal, PP_006W6RC.
• A sequence generated by the National Institute For Communicable Disease in South Africa, PP_006WANE.

We commend each of these teams on their rapid sequencing and data sharing, and anticipate the sharing of further sequences in the coming days.

In addition to sequences from the current outbreak, the database also contains 500 sequence entries from past outbreaks, sourced from the INSDC databases. Pathoplexus links together the three segments of the virus for each isolate, providing a convenient way of exploring this data. We will also aim to add further curations from the community in the current days.

Andes virus is the only species of hantavirus with known potential for human-human transmission. It can cause Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, a severe respiratory disease. In response to the current outbreak, the Pathoplexus Executive Board authorized the addition of hantavirus to Pathoplexus, helping enable rapid, responsible data sharing as new sequences become available.

As with other supported pathogens, sequences can be submitted through the website or programmatically via the API. Submitters can choose to make data Open immediately or to use Restricted-Use terms for a limited period, helping make data available for public health and research while protecting submitter attribution and publication opportunities.

We encourage all users to read and follow the Pathoplexus Data Use Terms carefully when working with newly submitted outbreak-related sequences. To date, most outbreak sequences are available under the Restricted-Use terms which prohibit publication on these sequences except with the approval of the original submitters.

We thank everyone involved in patient care, laboratory testing, genomic sequencing, public health response.

New website features

Some of the website features added since our last update include:

• a reworked metadata documentation, including information on fields that are generated by the preprocessing pipeline
• a new “Identifier” field in the search UI which searches across all sorts of identifier fields, including INSDC accessions across all segments, Pathoplexus accessions, identifiers used at submission, etc. This is supported by a new Loculus feature for multi-field searches.