With an agenda focused on frontier science, international collaboration, and public health challenges, the XIII International Conference on Hantaviruses will gather experts from around the world in Puerto Varas to discuss the present and future of hantavirus research.

Additionally, on Thursday, November 5, a workshop focused on Andes virus will be held to unite researchers, medical personnel, and health authorities from our region around common public health challenges.

Puerto Varas, in southern Chile, will host the XIII International Conference on Hantaviruses (ICH2026), an international meeting that will bring together scientists and health professionals to share the most recent advances in the study of hantaviruses and the diseases they cause. The conference will take place between November 2 and 4, 2026.

The meeting is organized every three years by the International Society for Hantaviruses and will address a broad scientific agenda, with topics including viral epidemiology, ecology, replication, virus-host interactions, pathogenesis, clinical aspects of the disease, and the development of vaccines and therapies. The goal is to promote knowledge exchange and international collaboration in a research field of high relevance to public health.

ICH2026 will also serve as a platform for students, postdoctoral researchers, and established scientists to present their results and interact with the international community specialized in hantaviruses. This will be complemented by the participation of invited experts who will deliver keynote lectures on recent developments in the field. Confirmed keynote speakers include Dr. Jay Hooper, from the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), and Dra. Marcela Ferrés, from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

In addition to the main scientific program, the conference will include a workshop on November 5 dedicated to Andes virus, the endemic hantavirus in our region of special public health importance. This activity aims to create a space for discussion among researchers, healthcare workers, authorities, and decision-makers in Chile and other affected countries such as Argentina and Brazil, to strengthen the dialogue between scientific advances and public health in the region. Topics to be addressed will focus, among others, on improving early diagnosis of the infection, management of individuals exposed to the Andes virus, viral surveillance, and how to translate advances in the development of preventive and therapeutic antiviral interventions into clinical practice.

The scientific organization of the meeting is led by virologist Nicole Tischler, president of the International Society for Hantaviruses, along with an international committee composed of specialists from institutions in Argentina, Belgium, Korea, Slovakia, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, among other countries.

The local organizing committee also brings together researchers from Chilean institutions such as Fundación Ciencia & Vida, Universidad San Sebastián, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universidad Austral de Chile, Universidad del Desarrollo, and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, as well as professionals from hospitals and clinics across the country.

The event is supported by the Sociedad de Microbiología de Chile (SOMICH), the Centro Ciencia & Vida, the Fundación Ciencia & Vida of the Universidad San Sebastián, the Universidad del Desarrollo, and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

Puerto Varas stands out as a privileged setting for this meeting. The city, located in the Los Lagos Region and recognized as the gateway to Patagonia, will seek to articulate scientific exchange, international collaboration, and specialized discussion on one of the most relevant topics in research on emerging and zoonotic viruses.

All details at https://www.hantavirussociety.org/