Abstract
Hantaviruses are widespread emergent zoonotic agents that cause unapparent or limited disease in their rodent hosts, yet cause acute, often fatal pulmonary or renal infections in humans. Previous laboratory experiments with rodent reservoir hosts indicate that hantaviruses can be cleared from host blood early in the infection cycle, while sequestered long term in various host organs. Field studies of North American deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), the natural reservoir of Sin Nombre hantavirus, have shown that viral RNA can be transiently detected well past the early acute infection stage, but only in the minority of infected mice. Here, using a non-degenerate RT-PCR assay optimized for SNV strains known to circulate in Montana, USA, we show that viral RNA can be repeatedly detected on a monthly basis in up to 75% of antibody positive deer mice for periods up to 3–6 months. More importantly, our data show that antibody positive male deer mice are more than twice as likely to have detectable SNV RNA in their blood as antibody positive females, suggesting that SNV-infected male deer mice are more likely to shed virus and for longer periods of time.
Highlights
IntroductionHantaviruses (family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus) are negative-stranded RNA viruses that occur across Europe, Asia, and the Americas and are hosted by rodents, insectivores, and possibly bats [1,2]
Hantaviruses are negative-stranded RNA viruses that occur across Europe, Asia, and the Americas and are hosted by rodents, insectivores, and possibly bats [1,2]
Our results indicate that Sin Nombre virus (SNV) Ab+ male P. maniculatus are more likely to have circulating RNA than SNV Ab+ females; a finding that might provide an additional explanation for why SNV transmission in the wild appears male dominated
Summary
Hantaviruses (family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus) are negative-stranded RNA viruses that occur across Europe, Asia, and the Americas and are hosted by rodents, insectivores, and possibly bats [1,2]. The earliest studies of experimentally infected Old World hantavirus rodent reservoir hosts suggest that after inoculation, the animals experience a brief viremia 7–10 days post-infection (PI), before developing neutralizing immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody approximately 10–21 days PI and clearing infectious virus from the blood [3,4]. Previous field studies of SNV-infected deer mouse populations in Montana, USA and Canada have shown that 19%–45% of infected mice have intermittently detectable RNA in blood past the initial 10 day acute phase, sometimes up to three months [7,8]. In those studies, the authors suggested that either
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