Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) comprises a variety of clinically similar diseases of viral etiology that are endemic to and sporadically epidemic throughout the Eurasian continent and Japan. Although HFRS has not been reported in North America, viruses that are antigenically similar to HFRS agents were recently isolated from rodents in the United States. Examination and comparison of eight representative isolates from endemic disease areas and from regions with no known associated HFRS indicate that these viruses represent a new and unique group that constitutes a separate genus in the Bunyaviridae family of animal viruses.
Hantaan virus, strain 76-118, was propagated to high titer in a clone of Vero cells, and infectious virions were successfully concentrated and purified. Infectivity and virus antigenic activity were closely associated with a virus particle that exhibited a sedimentation rate indistinguishable from a representative member of the Bunyaviridae. Purified virions sedimented to a density of 1.16-1.17 in sucrose and 1.20-1.21 in cesium chloride. Detergent disruption of virions resulted in a nucleocapsid structure (density, 1.18 in sucrose and 1.25 in cesium chloride) and soluble protein antigens. Three separate nucleocapsids were resolved by rate-zonal centrifugation and contained a single but common polypeptide of 50,000 daltons. Electrophoresis of radiolabeled RNA extracted from purified virions yielded a profile of three RNA species with apparent molecular weights of 2.7, 1.2, and 0.6 X 10(6). These data support earlier electron microscopy reports which suggested that Hantaan virus has characteristics similar to some members of the virus family Bunyaviridae.
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