Associate Professor of Virology, Specialist in Virology

Department of Virology
Kinderspitalgasse 15, 1090 Vienna, Austria

Phone: +43 (0)1 40160 - 65555

E-mail: stephan.aberle@meduniwien.ac.at

Epidemiology and molecular characterization of hantaviruses

We monitor the endemic regions in Austria for the human pathogenic hantaviruses - Puumala, Dobrava and Saaremaa - that are known to cause disease in Europe. We study the burden of disease of hantaviruses and their seasonal and year-to-year variations in Austria.
A major interest is molecular analysis of hantaviruses found in humans and the natural reservoir, the rodents, and characterization of genetic diversity and phylogenetic relation to hantavirus detected in other parts of Europe and worldwide. The molecular information of hantaviruses detected in different endemic regions is used to trace hantavirus transmission to humans to a precise geographical region.