Abstract
The number of documented American orthohantaviruses has increased significantly over recent decades, but most fundamental research has remained focused on just two of them: Andes virus (ANDV) and Sin Nombre virus (SNV). The majority of American orthohantaviruses are known to cause disease in humans, and most of these pathogenic strains were not described prior to human cases, indicating the importance of understanding all members of the virus clade. In this review, we summarize information on the ecology of under-studied rodent-borne American orthohantaviruses to form general conclusions and highlight important gaps in knowledge. Information regarding the presence and genetic diversity of many orthohantaviruses throughout the distributional range of their hosts is minimal and would significantly benefit from virus isolations to indicate a reservoir role. Additionally, few studies have investigated the mechanisms underlying transmission routes and factors affecting the environmental persistence of orthohantaviruses, limiting our understanding of factors driving prevalence fluctuations. As landscapes continue to change, host ranges and human exposure to orthohantaviruses likely will as well. Research on the ecology of neglected orthohantaviruses is necessary for understanding both current and future threats to human health.
Highlights
Due to their direct noticeable impacts on humans, certain viruses tend to receive relatively large amounts of research attention
Several orthohantavirus hosts occupy this habitat type in the United States alone, including M. pennsylvanicus (PHV), M. ochrogaster (Bloodland Lake virus, BLLV, genotype of Prospect Hill virus (PHV)), Microtus californicus (ISLAV), Reithrodontomys megalotis (El Moro Canyon virus, ELMCV), and Sigmodon hispidus (MULV and Black Creek Canal virus (BCCV)), and to a lesser extent
Despite the discovery of at least 20 different New World orthohantaviruses carried by rodents, most orthohantavirus studies in the Americas focus on Andes virus (ANDV) and Sin Nombre virus (SNV)
Summary
Due to their direct noticeable impacts on humans, certain viruses tend to receive relatively large amounts of research attention. Members of the Coronaviridae (SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2), Filoviridae (Ebola and Marburg virus), Flaviviridae (West Nile and Zika virus), Lyssaviridae (rabies), and Paramyxoviridae (Hendra and Nipah virus) families contain several dangerous human pathogens that have emerged in recent decades and have resulted in extensive research attention While studying such viruses is important, there are an untold number of other pathogens that persist among humans and wildlife that receive little to no attention [1]. Despite an increasing number of described hantaviruses, ANDV and SNV are disproportionately studied when compared to other orthohantaviruses in the Americas (Table 1) Such bias may be the reason for inadequate information to discriminate between potentially different viruses, and the lack of distinction may discourage the collection of additional data, creating a negative feedback loop. CADV and ELMCV have not been confirmed to be linked to any HCPS cases in humans, but circumstantial evidence suggests they may have been the causative virus in misdiagnosed cases. 2 NYV was first described as Shelter Island-1 virus in 1994 [18]
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