Abstract
The 1993 outbreak of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the southwestern United States was associated with Sin Nombre virus, a rodent-borne hantavirus; The virus' primary reservoir is the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus). Hantavirus-infected rodents were identified in various regions of North America. An extensive nucleotide sequence database of an 139 bp fragment amplified from virus M genomic segments was generated. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that SNV-like hantaviruses are widely distributed in Peromyscus species rodents throughout North America. Classic SNV is the major cause of HPS in North America, but other Peromyscine-borne hantaviruses, e.g., New York and Monongahela viruses, are also associated with HPS cases. Although genetically diverse, SNV-like viruses have slowly coevolved with their rodent hosts. We show that the genetic relationships of hantaviruses in the Americas are complex, most likely as a result of the rapid radiation and speciation of New World sigmodontine rodents and occasional virus-host switching events.
Highlights
The 1993 outbreak of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the southwestern United States was associated with Sin Nombre virus, a rodent-borne hantavirus; The virus’ primary reservoir is the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)
We focused on the North American viruses, the nucleotide sequences of many hantaviruses from
The nucleotide sequences of 139 bp fragments of the G2 encoding region of virus M segments amplified by reverse transcriptasePCR (RT-polymerase chain reaction (PCR)) from 288 hantavirus-infected rodent and human samples were compiled from Genbank sources or from data reported here
Summary
Worldwide aMajor virus types or species are in bold and indented below the rodent subfamilies with which they are associated; related genetically distinct virus lineages that may represent additional species or subspecies are indented below virus types and species. BHPS = hantavirus pulmonary syndrome; HFRS = hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. South America and elsewhere were included as outgroups to increase the resolution of the analysis
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