HPS is a rare but life-threatening disease characterized by pulmonary edema, hypoxia and hypotension. The causative agents of HPS are hantaviruses, a single stranded RNA viruses from the Bunyaviridae family. Hantaviruses need vectors for transmission, and their vectors are rodents, in which they cause chronic asymptomatic infection. Man becomes infected by inhalation of an aerosol containing excreta of the origin of urine or feces of rodents infected with hantavirus. The incubation period can last differently, usually from 14 to 17 days. HPS starts with prodromal symptoms like high fever (>38,3C), myalgia, headache or nausea. This is followed by a dramatic deterioration accompanied by tachypnea, dyspnea, hypotension and tachycardia. At this stage, a large number of patients die due to the unstoppable progression of the disease towards cardiogenic shock. Patients who survive, in the third stage usually recover sharply, although the consequences of the disease can last for months and years. Today, HPS is increasingly designated as HCPS to highlight the importance of cardiogenic shock in disease pathogenesis. HPS is diagnosed by clinical imaging, laboratory findings and some of the methods of proving the presence of hantavirus. HPS treatment is supportive, and includes fluid reimbursement, vasopressor hypotension correction and correction of hypoxia and dyspnea with ventilatory support. The most difficult patients need to be intubated, and the final step in therapy may be the use of an ECMO device that drastically improves the chances of survival.