Research rticle Deciphering the Hantavirus Host Range Combining Virology and Species Distribution Models with an Emphasis on the Yellow Pygmy Rice Rat (Oligoryzomys flavescens) Andr´ es Cabrera , 1 David Romero , 2 Jos´ e Carlos Guerrero , 3 Mario Clara, 4 and Adriana Delfraro 1 1 Secci´ on Virolog´ ıa, Departamento de Biolog´ ıa Celular y Molecular, Instituto de Biolog´ ıa, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Rep´ ublica, Montevideo, Uruguay 2 Grupo de Biogeograf´ ıa, Diversidad y Conservaci´ on, Departamento de Biolog´ ıa nimal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de M´ alaga, M´ alaga, Spain 3 Laboratorio de Desarrollo Sustentable y Gesti´ on mbiental del Territorio, Instituto de Ecolog´ ıa y Ciencias mbientales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Rep´ ublica, Montevideo, Uruguay 4 Instituto de Ecolog´ ıa y Ciencias mbientales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Rep´ ublica, Montevideo, Uruguay Correspondene should be addressed to Adriana Delfraro; adriana@fien.edu.uy Andr´ es Cabrera and David Romero ontributed equally to this work. Received 27 October 2022; Revised 16 February 2023; Accepted 28 February 2023; Published 19 April 2023 Aademi Editor: Serafeim C. Chaintoutis Copyright © 2023 Andr´ es Cabrera et al. Tis is an open aess artile distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Liense, whih permits unrestrited use, distribution, and reprodution in any medium, provided the original work is properly ited. Hantaviruses are the ausative agents of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the Amerias. In Central and South Ameria, 28 hantavirus lineages were assoiated with diferent Sigmodontinae rodents. Of these, Lehiguanas hantavirus was initially desribed as a lineage assoiated with HPS ases in the entral region of Argentina. Initial studies on the rodent hosts and viral lineages performed between 1999 and 2005 showed that HPS ases in Uruguay were distributed mostly in the southern region of the ountry, and that the Lehiguanas hantavirus (LECV) and the losely related Andes Central Plata hantaviruses were the viral lineages most frequently assoiated with HPS ases, both arried by the yellow pygmy rie rat (Oligoryzomysfavescens). Although these rodents are present all aross the Uruguayan territory, determining the extent of the risk areas for hantavirus transmission based on the distribution of the infeted rodents may be a useful tool for disease ontrol and prevention. Distribution models are positioned as an efetive instrument in the predition of diseases afeting human health. Assessment of the potential distribution of rodent reservoir hosts and analysis of the infuene of environmental fators on hantavirus transmission an help to understand the spatial patterns of disease transmission risk. In the present study, virologial studies and speies distribution models were integrated to understand the hantavirus infetion risk pattern in Uruguay. Virologial analyses onfrmed that in Uruguay, the primary hantavirus reservoir host for both viral lineages is the yellow pygmy rie rat. Additionally, we report an Azara’s grass mouse (kodonazarae) infeted with the Andes Central Plata viral lineage. Based on the seropositive and nonseropositive yellow pygmy rie rats tested, the distribution models emphasized that favorable environmental onditions for the infeted rodents are mainly related to the availability of human•disturbed rural environments with high humidity. We onlude that the innovative appliation of the methodologies reported herein allowed for the assessment of the urrent risk territory for HPS in Uruguay. Hindawi Transboundary and Emerging Diseases Volume 2023, Article ID 2730050, 15 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/2730050