Epidemiological Study of Hantavirus Infection in the Samara Region of European Russia

Abstract

ABSTRACT. European Russia is a highly endemic area of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), a rodent-borne zoonotic disease, caused by hantaviruses. In total, 145 small mammals of four species (Myodes glareolus, Apodemus flavicollis, A. agrarius, and A. uralensis) were trapped in the Samara region of European Russia in August 2005 and examined for the presence of hantavirus (HV). Anti-HV antibodies were found in six of 68 (8.8%) M. glareolus and in one of 19 (5.3%) A. flavicollis by indirect immunofluorescent antibody assay (IFA). The Puumala virus (PUUV), which is one of the hantavirus species, was detected in the lungs of seven M. glareolus by RT-PCR. The virus S-segment was extremely similar (96.2% to 99.3%) to the sequence found in a fatal case of HFRS in the Samara region. Phylogenetic analyses of S and M segments showed that the Samara PUUVs form a cluster within the Russian Volga lineage and apparently differ from other European PUUVs. Anti-PUUV antibodies were found in blood sera from seven HFRS patients and from one undiagnosed patient from the Samara region, using IFA and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). These data suggest that the bank vole M. glareolus is a primary natural reservoir and vector for PUUV, which is the main causative agent of HFRS in humans in the Samara region.KEY WORDS: epidemiology, hantavirus, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, Puumala virus, rodents.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 71(12): 1569-1578, 2009 Hantaviruses belong to the genus Hantavirus, within the family Bunyaviridae, and cause two forms of human illness. These zoonoses include hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), which occurs in Asia and Europe and is caused by the Hantaan virus (HTNV), Seoul virus (SEOV), Puumala virus (PUUV), Dobrava-Belgrade virus (DOBV), and Amur virus (AMRV). The second form of illness is hantavirus (cardio) pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which occurs in the Americas and is caused by the Sin Nombre virus, Andes virus, and other hantaviruses [13,28,33]. Hantaviruses are transmitted by aerosolized excreta from their natural hosts, mainly rodents of the family Muridae. Particular hantavirus species are usually harbored by a single rodent species, or by a few closely related rodent species, which indicates co-evolution and co-speciation of hantaviruses with their hosts. The virus genome contains three segments of negative-stranded RNA: the large (L) segment encodes a viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, the medium (M) segment encodes a glycoprotein precursor, and the small (S) segment encodes a nucleocapsid protein (NP) [34].In

Prevalence of the Puumala orthohantavirus Strains in the Pre-Kama Area of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia

“…Currently, based on the data on the genetic variations in the S segment sequences, eight PUUV genetic lineages are identified in Eurasia: the Danish (DAN), north-Scandinavian (N-SCA), the south-Scandinavian (S-SCA), Central European (CE), Alpe-Adrian (ALAD), Latvian (LAT), Finnish (FIN) and the Russian (RUS) lineages [8]. The last two families were identified in Russia, with RUS lineage being found in the Volga region (Samara region, Republic of Udmurtia, Republic of Tatarstan (RT), Republic of Bashkortostan, Republic of Mordovia) [9], and FIN lineage being found in Karelia and Western Siberia [10].…”

Cross-Reactivity of Secondary Antibodies against African Rodents and Application for Sero-Surveillance

“…Seroprevalence described in this study can not be directly compared to the published results of serological studies on reservoir rodents [1,9,16], because detection accuracy may be different. However, this is the first report of the existence of hantavirus in the eastern Africa.…”

Perfil epidemiológico e distribuição espacial dos casos de síndrome cardiopulmonar por hantavírus no Estado do Pará, Brasil, entre 1995 e 2012

“…A Rússia, devido à sua extensão territorial, apresenta 97% dos seus casos registrados no continente europeu e 3% no continente asiático, com uma média de 6.000 a 8.000 casos anuais 19,20 . A Coreia do Sul apresenta anualmente de 300 a 900 casos 21 .…”