 In Argentina and Chile, the long-tailed rice rat, "Oligoryzomys longicaudatus", and other species of the genus "Oligoryzomys", have been documented as the reservoir for ANDV.Another unique characteristic of ANDV is the availability of an animal model.ANDV causes lethal disease in the Syrian hamster ("Mesocricetus auratus") that closely models the course of disease progression in humans, including a rapid progression from first symptoms to death, which is characterized by fluid in the pleural cavity and the histopathology of the lungs and spleen.