Hyalomma marginatum ticks (449 pools, 4787 ticks in total) collected in European Russia and Dermacentor niveus ticks (100 pools, 1100 ticks in total) collected in Kazakhstan were screened by ELISA for the presence of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV). Virus antigen was found in 10?2 and 3?0 % of the pools, respectively. RT-PCR was used to recover partial sequences of the CCHFV small (S) genome segment from seven pools of antigen-positive H. marginatum ticks, one pool of D. niveus ticks, four CCFH cases and four laboratory virus strains. Additionally, the entire S genome segments of the CCHFV strains STV/HU29223 (isolated from a patient in European Russia) and TI10145 (isolated from H. asiaticum in Uzbekistan) were amplified, cloned and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis placed all CCHFV sequences from Russia in a single, well-supported clade (nucleotide sequence diversity up to 3?2 %). Virus sequences from H. marginatum were closely related or identical to those recovered from patients in the same regions of southern Russia. Newly described CCHFV strains from Central Asian countries fell into two genetic lineages. The first lineage was novel and included closely related virus sequences from Kazakhstan and Tajikistan (nucleotide sequence diversity up to 3?2 %). In contrast, a newly described CCHFV strain from Uzbekistan, strain TI10145, clustered on the phylogenetic trees with strains from China.
This is the first definitive report of shrew-borne hantaviruses in Siberia, and demonstrates the impressive distribution of SWSV among phylogenetically related Sorex species. Coevolution and local adaptation of SWSV genetic variants in specific chromosomal races of S. araneus may account for their geographic distribution.
Genetic analysis of wild-type Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus strains recovered in the European part of Russia was performed. Reverse transcriptase PCR followed by direct sequencing was used to recover partial sequences of the CCHF virus medium (M) genome segment (M segment) from four pools of Hyalomma marginatum ticks and six human patients. Phylogenetic analysis of the M-segment sequences from Russian strains revealed a close relatedness of the strains (nucleotide sequence diversity, <5.0%). The strains differed significantly from CCHF viruses from other regions of the world (nucleotide sequence diversity, 10.3 to 20.4%), suggesting that CCHF virus strains recovered in the European part of Russia form a distinct group.
Although based on very limited M and L segment sequences, Artybash virus (ARTV) was proposed previously as a unique hantavirus harbored by the Laxmann's shrew (Sorex caecutiens). To verify this conjecture, lung tissues from 68 Laxmann's shrews, captured during 2006 to 2014 in eastern Siberia, Russia, and Hokkaido, Japan, were analyzed for ARTV RNA using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). ARTV RNA was detected in six Laxmann's shrews. Pairwise alignment and comparison of partial-and full-length S, M, and L segment sequences from these Laxmann's shrews, as well as phylogenetic analyses, using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods indicated that ARTV was distinct from other soricine shrew-borne hantaviruses and representative hantaviruses harbored by rodents, moles, and bats. Taxonomic identity of the ARTVinfected Laxmann's shrews was confirmed by full-length cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA sequence analysis. Our data indicate that the hantavirus previously known as Amga virus (MGAV) represents genetic variants of ARTV. Thus, the previously proposed designation of ARTV/MGAV should be replaced by ARTV.
The 10th International Conference on Hantaviruses, organized by the International Society on Hantaviruses, was held from May 31–June 3, 2016 at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA. These conferences have been held every three years since 1980. The current report summarizes research presented on all aspects of hantavirology: ecology and epidemiology, virus replication, phylogeny, pathogenesis, immune response, clinical studies, vaccines and therapeutics.
With the recent discovery of genetically distinct hantaviruses (family Hantaviridae) in shrews (order Eulipotyphla, family Soricidae), the once-conventional view that rodents (order Rodentia) served as the primordial reservoir hosts now appears improbable. The newly identified soricid-borne hantaviruses generally demonstrate well-resolved lineages organized according to host taxa and geographic origin. However, beginning in 2007, we detected sequences that did not conform to the prototypic hantaviruses associated with their soricid host species and/or geographic locations. That is, Eurasian common shrews (Sorex araneus), captured in Hungary and Russia, were found to harbor hantaviruses belonging to two separate and highly divergent lineages. We have since accumulated additional examples of these highly distinctive hantavirus sequences in the Laxmann’s shrew (Sorex caecutiens), flat-skulled shrew (Sorex roboratus) and Eurasian least shrew (Sorex minutissimus), captured at the same time and in the same location in the Sakha Republic in Far Eastern Russia. Pair-wise alignment and phylogenetic analysis of partial and full-length S-, M- and/or L-segment sequences indicate that a distinct hantavirus species related to Altai virus (ALTV), first reported in a Eurasian common shrew from Western Siberia, was being maintained in these closely related syntopic soricine shrew species. These findings suggest that genetic variants of ALTV might have resulted from ancient host-switching events with subsequent diversification within the Soricini tribe in Eurasia.
tional PRNT results from 26 sera, of which 18 (69%) were positive, yields a 3.9% positivity rate.In addition to our study, with crude seroprevalence rates ranging from 3.9% to 10.1%, another recent study demonstrated JCV antibodies in 2.9% to 13.3% of ill persons in Massachusetts (Tonry J et al., unpub. data). Although the screening results of our first serosurvey (10.1% positive) differed widely from those of the second serosurvey (3.9% positive), even the lower rate indicates substantial levels of human infection in Connecticut.This report suggests that JCV infection is fairly frequent in Connecticut and that illness may occur, as corroborated by data from neighboring Massachusetts (Tonry J et al., unpub. data) and unpublished laboratory findings from the Connecticut State Public Health Laboratory. The interest in arboviral disease will continue unabated, spurred by the continued occurrence of WNV, and systematic testing for JCV infection may be timely, at least throughout the northeastern United States.
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