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  • Study of molecular epidemiology of Hantavirus infection in small mammals by polymerase chain reaction
    Avšič-Županc, Tatjana ...
    Results of previous epidemiological, clinical and serological studies of Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS) in Slovenia indicated simultaneous circulation of different Hantaviruses. To ... elucidate the variability of hantaviruses spreading by their natural hosts, small mammals were collected in HFRS foci in Slovenia. Recent advances in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology that allow detection of viral RNA in patient specimens and that provide DNA fragments for restriction endonuclease analysis was applied to study naturally infected animals. RNA was extracted from 92 lung and kidney tissues of seropositive and seronegative small mammals trapped in three locations in Slovenia. For screening, a genus-reactive oligonucleotide primer pair, flanking a 365 bp region of the G2 glycoprotein gene was used. Hantavirus-specific RNA was detected in 10 (83,3%) of 12 seropositive small mammals and in 4 seronegative animal tissues. The PCR products were digested with 5 restriction endonucleases and cleavage patterns were analysed. For further characterization of hantavirus type all positive tissues were aplified using 3 sets of primers designed from unique sequences of M genomic segment such that each primer set was specific for only one serological type of Hantaviruses. Both typing strategies used in our study revealed coexistence of three hantavirus serotypes in Slovenia: Hantaan, Puumala-like and Dobrava. Hantaan virus was detected in yelow-necked mouse Apodemus flavicollis, field vole Microtus agrestis and frequently in dormouse Glis glis. Bank voles Clethrionomys glareolus are the only reservoir of Puumala-like (Bashkiria) hantavirus and Dobrava virus is spread in nature by A. flavicollis. The results obtained in our study suggested that PCR is a specific and sensitive method for detecting and characterizing of hantaviruses, therefore represents a suitable tool for epidemiological studies of hantavirus infection.
    Vir: Program and abstracts of the Joint annual meeting of the American society of the tropical medicine and hygiene and the American society of parasitologists,the Hyatt Regency, Atlanta, Georgia, October 32-November 4, 1993 (Str. 195)
    Vrsta gradiva - prispevek na konferenci
    Leto - 1992
    Jezik - angleški
    COBISS.SI-ID - 17416965

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