Hantavirus in Northern Short-tailed Shrew, United States

Satoru Arai,Joseph A Cook,Jin-Won Song,Vivek R Nerurkar,Laarni Sumibcay,Shannon N Bennett,Cheryl Parmenter,Terry L Yates,Richard Yanagihara

doi:10.3201/eid1309.070484

Satoru Arai, Joseph A Cook + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1309.070484

Copy DOI

Abstract

Phylogenetic analyses, based on partial medium- and large-segment sequences, support an ancient evolutionary origin of a genetically distinct hantavirus detected by reverse transcription–PCR in tissues of northern short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda) captured in Minnesota in August 1998. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of hantaviruses harbored by shrews in the Americas.

Highlights

Phylogenetic analyses, based on partial medium- and large-segment sequences, support an ancient evolutionary origin of a genetically distinct hantavirus detected by reverse transcription–PCR in tissues of northern short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda) captured in Minnesota in August 1998
More than 20 years ago, when Prospect Hill virus was discovered in meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) captured in Frederick, Maryland, USA, serologic evidence suggestive of hantavirus infection was found in the northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda) [4]
Empowered by robust gene-amplification techniques and the complete genome of Thottapalayam virus (TPMV) isolated from the Asian house shrew (Suncus murinus) [5,6], we have identified a genetically distinct hantavirus in the northern shorttailed shrew

Summary

The Study After obtaining approval from the University of Hawaii

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, we retrieved lung and liver tissues of 30 northern short-tailed shrews cap-. Of the 30 northern short-tailed shrews tested, hantavirus M-segment sequences were amplified from lung tissues of 3 of 12 animals captured in Camp Ripley (46.185°N, 94.4337°W), a 53,000-acre, state-owned military and civilian training center near Little Falls, in Morrison County, Minnesota, USA, in August 1998 (Table 1). Pairwise alignment and comparison of the 1,390-nt region (463 aa) spanning the Gn and Gc glycoprotein–encoding M segment indicated differences of 33.6%–41.9% and 32.7%–47.4% at the nucleotide and amino acid levels, respectively, from representative hantaviruses harbored by Murinae, Arvicolinae, Neotominae, and Sigmodontinae rodents (Table 2). The new hantavirus, designated Camp Ripley virus (RPLV), showed sequence similarity of 98.1%–98.5% among the 3 strains. Analysis of a 490-nt (163-aa) region of the L genomic segment amplified from 2 of the 3 shrews indicat-

Trapping date

Conclusions

El Moro Canyon