Climate change, rodent ecology, and the rising risk of hantavirus outbreaks: an alarming public health concern

The Anthropocene era has been characterized by a higher risk of zoonotic viral outbreaks, which often result from a combination of factors, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, land-use patterns, and increased opportunities for human–animal interactions. The current perspective provides an integrated synthesis of how climate change-driven alterations in rodent ecology impact the molecular evolution, transmission dynamics, and emergence of hantaviruses, with an emphasis on the underlying virological mechanisms and their implications for One Health preparedness. Hantaviruses have undergone extensive diversification throughout their evolution and host adaptation and can infect rodents, bats, reptiles, and fish. Rodents serve as the principal natural reservoirs for hantaviruses, with many viral species exhibiting long-term evolutionary associations with specific rodent host species. Climate change has been recognized as one of the key determinants for the emergence of hantavirus outbreaks in different parts of the world. Climate-related factors may facilitate viral amplification through multiple mechanisms, including their impact on evolution, mutation, and reassortment. To conclude, climate change has shaped the ecology, transmission dynamics, and molecular evolution of hantaviruses by altering rodent behavior, their habitats, and the environmental persistence of viral particles. Climate-induced ecological disruption has created opportunities for viral amplification within reservoir hosts and augmented the risk of zoonotic spillover into humans. These insights provide a conceptual framework for anticipating future outbreaks in the context of climate change and support the integration of ecological, virological, and public health surveillance systems. There is an urgent need to ensure that virological preparedness strategies evolve in accordance with changing environmental conditions by strengthening genomic surveillance and integrated One Health frameworks.