Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, Central Plateau, Southeastern, and Southern Brazil

Abstract

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is an increasing health problem in Brazil because of encroachment of sprawling urban, agricultural, and cattle-raising areas into habitats of subfamily Sigmodontinae rodents, which serve as hantavirus reservoirs. From 1993 through June 2007, a total of 884 cases of HPS were reported in Brazil (casefatality rate 39%). To better understand this emerging disease, we collected 89 human serum samples and 68 rodent lung samples containing antibodies to hantavirus from a 2,500-km-wide area in Brazil. RNA was isolated from human samples and rodent lung tissues and subjected to reverse transcription-PCR. Partial sequences of nucleocapsid protein and glycoprotein genes from 22 human and 16 rodent sources indicated only Araraquara virus and Juquitiba virus lineages. The case-fatality rate of HPS was higher in the area with Araraquara virus. This virus, which may be the most virulent hantavirus in Brazil, was associated with areas that have had greater anthropogenic changes.

Serosurvey of hantavirus infection in humans in the border region between Brazil and Argentina

“…In Brazil, the first evidence that this virus was circulating was observed in the study of three individuals living in a rural area of Juquitiba, São Paulo, in 1993 13 . Today, over 1,200 cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome have occurred in Brazil since 1993, fatalities were reported at a rate of 39%, according to geographic and ethnic differences 14 .…”

“…Similar to that previously reported, all were involved in the practice of storing food in barns and sheds 31 . The infection probably occurred close to home or during manual work planting corn in a place abundant with rodents; this is due to both the wider choice of food during planting and the provision of natural forest and Araucaria pines 13 .…”

“…The probable contact with hantavirus, reported by respondents, may simply involve the procedure of sweeping or raking barns and sheds, causing the suspension of aerosols containing rodent excreta and the aspiration of viral particles in the air 7,13 ; this is the likely form of infection, especially in women, who are primarily responsible for this task and who presented 58.3% of reactive sera in the present study; in contrast, 41.7% of positive samples were from men, who are primarily responsible for planting and harvesting. The practice of storing food in barns suggests that the infection occurs around the home, since the abundance of food would attract a large population of rodents to the peridomicile area 3 .…”

Hantavirus infection in suspected dengue cases from State of Ceará, Brazil

“…Five lineages of hantavirus have been associated with most documented HCPS cases in Brazil: the Juquitiba virus, the Araraquara virus, the Laguna Negra-like virus, the Castelo dos Sonhos virus, and the Anajatuba virus. HCPS cases, especially some reported in northeastern Brazil, have probably been caused by other unknown hantaviruses 2 .…”

“…The spectrum of clinical symptoms caused by hantaviruses in humans varies from sub-clinical presentations to severe hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Eurasia and hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in the American continent 1 . HCPS is an emerging public health problem in Brazil because of the overlap of urban, agricultural, and cattle-raising areas with ecosystems containing several species of Sigmodontinae rodents, which are reservoirs of hantaviruses 2 . From 1993 through October 2010, 1,335 cases were reported in Brazil with a case-fatality rate of 39%: 487 in the southern region of Brazil, 399 in the southeast, 336 in the midwest, 82 in the north, and 14 in the northeast.…”