Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome: diagnostic problems with a known disease.

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), caused by different hantaviruses, is a distinct clinical syndrome endemic in several parts of Asia and Europe. However, the clinical picture can sometimes be indistinguishable from that of other infectious or noninfectious diseases. In this report we describe a clinical case, which is a rare occurrence but is a prime example of the difficulties in the diagnosis of HFRS in areas with a low prevalence of the disease.