[Detection of a new natural virus focus Dobrava in the Astrakhan Region]

Vopr Virusol. 2008 Mar-Apr;53(2):37-40.
[Article in Russian]

Abstract

A natural focus of Dobrava hantavirus was first revealed in an arid zone of the Astrakhan Region, by using molecular genetic methods. A polymerase chain reaction was employed to examine 389 lung tissue suspension samples taken from 9 species. Hantavirus RNA was found in 35 samples from 22 field mice (Apodemus agrarius), 8 tamarisk gerbils (Meriones temariscinus), 4 common voles (Microtus arvalis), and 1 house mouse (Mus musculus). Sequencing determined the taxonomic affiliation of 18 new isolates to the Dobrava species and 1 isolate to the Puumala species although the new Dobrava isolated greatly differed from all known strains of this virus in the nucleotide sequence of the genomic M and S segments. Hantavirus-infected rodents were found in 3 of 4 districts of the Astrakhan Region, located in the steppe and semidesert zones and at the intrazonal stations of the Volga-Akhtuba flood-lands. The high (up to 12%) hantavirus infection rates were ascertained in a tamarisk gerbil, the typical inhabitant of desert and semidesert ecosystems.

Publication types

  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Disease Reservoirs / virology*
  • Ecosystem
  • Genome, Viral
  • Hantavirus Infections / prevention & control*
  • Hantavirus Infections / virology
  • Mice
  • Orthohantavirus / classification
  • Orthohantavirus / genetics
  • Orthohantavirus / isolation & purification*
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction*
  • Puumala virus / genetics
  • Puumala virus / isolation & purification
  • Rodentia / classification
  • Rodentia / virology*
  • Russia / epidemiology