Absence of Infection in a Neonate after Possible Exposure to Sin Nombre Hantavirus in Breast Milk

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Abstract
In the spring of 1993, a cluster of patients with acute pulmonary disease associated with a high mortality rate was noted in the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This severe disease, termed hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), was found to be caused by a novel hantavirus, now known as Sin Nombre (SN) virus [1]. In Argentina and Chile, HCPS has been described in young children ranging in age from 2 to 11 years, and infants as young as 11 months of age have been infected with viruses associated with HCPS [2, 3]. In humans, maternal infection during gestation or in the perinatal period has not been associated with infection of the fetus or infant [4]. We report a case in which the possibility of perinatal transmission was unusually high. This case involved a mother who breast-fed her 3-week-old infant during the incubation period of HCPS.