Emerging Infectious Diseases (Aug 2002)

Genetic Characterization of Hantaviruses Transmitted by the Korean Field Mouse (Apodemus peninsulae), Far East Russia

  • Kumari Lokugamage,
  • Hiroaki Kariwa,
  • Daisuke Hayasaka,
  • Bai Zhong Cui,
  • Takuya Iwasaki,
  • Nandadeva Lokugamage,
  • Leonid I. Ivanov,
  • Vladimir I. Volkov,
  • Vladimir A. Demenev,
  • Raisa Slonova,
  • Galina Kompanets,
  • Tatyana Kushnaryova,
  • Takeshi Kurata,
  • Kenji Maeda,
  • Koichi Araki,
  • Tetsuya Mizutani,
  • Kumiko Yoshimatsu,
  • Jiro Arikawa,
  • Ikuo Takashima

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid0808.010494
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 8
pp. 768 – 776

Abstract

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In an epizootiologic survey of 122 rodents captured in Vladivostok, Russia, antibodies positive for hantavirus were found in Apodemus peninsulae (4/70), A. agrarius (1/39), and Clethrionomys rufocanus (1/8). The hantavirus sequences identified in two seropositive A. peninsulae and two patients with hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) from the Primorye region of Far East Russia were designated as Solovey and Primorye, respectively. The nucleotide sequences of the Solovey, Primorye, and Amur (obtained through GenBank) sequences were closely related (>92% identity). Solovey and Primorye sequences shared 84% nucleotide identity with the prototype Hantaan 76-118. Phylogenetic analysis also indicated a close relationship between Solovey, Primorye, Amur, and other viruses identified in Russia, China, and Korea. Our findings suggest that the Korean field mouse (A. peninsulae) is the reservoir for a hantavirus that causes HFRS over a vast area of east Asia, including Far East Russia.

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