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 (case-fatality 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 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.
Highlights
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
The N/ Gn composite tree indicates that human and rodent samples were associated with Araraquara virus (ARAV) or Juquitiba virus (JUQV) reference strains with posterior probabilities >0.9
Highly supported clusters of ARAV suggest that viruses may show some geographic partitioning
Summary
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. Hantaviruses are 80–120 nm in diameter and have an envelope that contains 3 single-stranded, negative-sense segments of RNA known as small (S), medium (M), and large (L). Brazil is a large country (area 8,514,215 km2), having a predominantly tropical climate and high biodiversity that includes many important zoonoses This biodiversity in natural ecosystems supports ≈450 of the 540 known species of Sigmodontinae rodents [5]. From 1993 through June 2007, a total of 877 HPS cases were reported in Brazil (case-fatality rate 39%): 387 in southern Brazil, 264 in southeastern Brazil, 177 in midwestern Brazil, and 49 in northern and northeastern Brazil
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