You probably don’t want to think about the next pandemic.
I don’t.
But maybe we can take some comfort in knowing scientists are preparing for it — and one such group of researchers is taking a close look at a potentially pandemic-causing virus found in New Mexico.
A team led by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin has developed a high-resolution map of the surface of hantavirus, a pathogen that regularly circulates in the American Southwest after being spread through infected rodents’ urine, feces and saliva.
Their findings, published in Cell in late February, serve as an initial step toward developing therapies to fight against viruses and improve preparedness in case of a hantavirus pandemic, said Jason McLellan, a professor of molecular biosciences at UT Austin who led the research.
“It’s really understanding how best to make these interventions against hantaviruses in general,” he said.
Hantavirus garnered national media attention about a year ago, after it was determined to have caused the death of Betsy Arakawa, a Santa Fe resident and wife of actor Gene Hackman.
Versions of hantavirus endemic to the Americas can cause what’s known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, in which flu-like symptoms progress to trouble breathing. It’s fatal in about 40% of cases, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory published findings in October showing the risk of hantavirus is particularly high in drier and less developed areas — like much of New Mexico and the West. Scientists at the University of New Mexico have determined more than 30 species of small mammals in the state carry the virus, including ground squirrels, chipmunks, gophers, rats and house mice.
The hantavirus family of viruses was listed as a “priority pathogen” by the World Health Organization in 2024 with a high risk of causing “Public Health Emergencies of International Concern.”
Hantavirus’ high fatality rate, combined with some known cases of human-to-human transmission, have encouraged researchers to develop countermeasures now, McLellan said — before the virus evolves to become potentially pandemic-inducing.
Why did researchers need a clearer picture of hantavirus? The latest imaging provides a “blueprint” of glycoproteins on the virus’ surface, McLellan said. Those proteins bind with receptors on host cells, allowing the virus to enter and infect human cells.
Understanding that structure, McLellan said, is the first step toward developing vaccines to safeguard against serious infection.
“A lot of what we do in my lab is take these three-dimensional maps and then figure out how to engineer the proteins to make it a more stable complex,” he said. “That way, when we inject it as a vaccine, we get even stronger and better antibody responses.”
That kind of preparation allowed researchers to act fast in developing a vaccine for COVID-19, said McLellan, who started studying coronaviruses in 2013.
“When SARS-CoV-2 — the causative agent of COVID-19 — spilled over, we and others really already knew how to very quickly move and make these vaccines,” he said. “We didn’t have to do a decade worth of research because we had already studied a closely related family member.”