Tacaribe Serocomplex Virus, Mexico | CDC EID

EID Journal Home > Volume 16, Number 6–June 2010

Volume 16, Number 6–June 2010
Dispatch
Genetic Evidence for a Tacaribe Serocomplex Virus, Mexico
Catherine C. Inizan, Maria N. B. Cajimat, Mary Louise Milazzo, Artemio Barragán-Gomez, Robert D. Bradley, and Charles F. Fulhorst
Author affiliations: University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA (C.C. Inizan, M.N.B. Cajimat, M.L. Milazzo, C.F. Fulhorst); Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolas de los Garza, México (A. Barragán-Gomez); and Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA (R.D. Bradley)

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Abstract
We isolated arenavirus RNA from white-toothed woodrats (Neotoma leucodon) captured in a region of Mexico in which woodrats are food for humans. Analyses of nucleotide and amino acid sequence data indicated that the woodrats were infected with a novel Tacaribe serocomplex virus, proposed name Real de Catorce virus.
The Tacaribe serocomplex (family Arenaviridae, genus Arenavirus) comprises 7 North American viruses (Table 1) and 15 South American viruses (9). The South American viruses include Guanarito virus, 4 other agents of hemorrhagic fever, and Pirital virus. Members of the rodent family Cricetidae are the principal hosts of the Tacaribe serocomplex viruses for which natural host relationships have been well characterized. For example, the southern plains woodrat (Neotoma micropus) in southern Texas is the principal host of Catarina virus (4), and the hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) in southern Florida is the principal host of Tamiami virus (6).

A recent study found antibody to a Tacaribe serocomplex virus in white-toothed woodrats (N. leucodon) captured in Mexico (M.L. Milazzo, unpub. data). We report the determination of the nucleotide sequence of a 3352-nt fragment of the small (S) genomic segment of arenavirus AV H0030026 from RNA isolated from a white-toothed woodrat captured in 2005 in northeastern Mexico.

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Tacaribe Serocomplex Virus, Mexico | CDC EID