Pygmy Rice Rat as Potential Host of CASV | CDC EID :: Volume 17, Number 8–August 2011

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Volume 17, Number 8–August 2011
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Pygmy Rice Rat as Potential Host of Castelo dos Sonhos Hantavirus

Elizabeth S. Travassos da Rosa, Daniele B. A. Medeiros, Márcio R.T. Nunes, Darlene B. Simith, Armando de Souza Pereira, Mauro R. Elkhoury, Marília Lavocat, Aparecido A.R. Marques, Alba Valéria Via, Paulo D'Andrea, Cibele R. Bonvicino, Elba Regina S. Lemos, and Pedro F.C. Vasconcelos Comments to Author

Author affiliations: Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ananindeua, Brazil (E.S. Travassos da Rosa, D.B.A. Medeiros, M.R.T. Nunes, D.B. Simith, A. de Souza Pereira, P.F.C. Vasconcelos); Fundação Nacional de Saúde, Brasília, Brazil (M.R. Elkhoury); Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde, Brasília (M.R. Elkhoury, M. Lavocat); Secretaria de Saúde do Estado de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Brazil (A.A.R. Marques, A.V. Via); Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (P. D'Andrea, C.R. Bonvicino, E.R.S. Lemos); Instituto Nacional de Câncer, Rio de Janeiro (C.R. Bonvicino); and Universidade do Estado do Pará, Belém, Brazil (P.F.C. Vasconcelos)

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Abstract
To study the dynamics of wild rodent populations and identify potential hosts for hantavirus, we conducted an eco-epidemiologic study in Campo Novo do Parecis, Mato Grosso State, Brazil. We detected and genetically characterized Castelo dos Sonhos virus found in a species of pygmy rice rat (Oligoryzomys utiaritensis).

Hantaviruses are RNA viruses (family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus) distributed worldwide. In nature, these viruses are maintained in persistently infected rodents without disease manifestation. Hantaviruses are transmitted to humans through a respiratory route, mainly by inhalation of aerosolized, virus-infected particles in rodent excreta, such as feces, saliva, or urine. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) was first recognized in 1993 after an outbreak of acute respiratory distress syndrome associated with Sin Nombre virus occurred in the southwestern United States (1). In the same year, another hantavirus (Juquitiba virus) was identified in association with HPS cases in the state of São Paulo in southeastern Brazil (2).

Since 1993, molecular techniques have been used to identify New World hantaviruses in samples obtained from humans suspected of having hantavirus infection throughout the Americas and from captured rodents that test seropositive for hantavirus-specific immunoglobulin (Ig) G (3–5). Most known hantaviruses associated with rodent reservoir species have been identified in this way. However, for some hantaviruses, including Castelo dos Sonhos virus (CASV), the virus–host association remains unknown.

CASV was first identified in samples from a patient with HPS in 1995 and was the first hantavirus described in the Brazilian Amazon region (3). We report here data obtained during an eco-epidemiologic study conducted in the municipality of Campo Novo do Parecis, Mato Grosso State in central-western Brazil (Figure 1), including the identification of a possible rodent reservoir for CASV.

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Suggested Citation for this Article

Travassos da Rosa ES, Medeiros DBA, Nunes MRT, Simith DB, de Souza Pereira A, Elkhoury MR, et al. Pygmy rice rat as potential host of Castelo dos Sonhos hantavirus. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2011 Aug [date cited]. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/17/8/101547.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1708.101547

Comments to the Authors

Please use the form below to submit correspondence to the authors or contact them at the following address:

Pedro F.C. Vasconcelos, Departamento de Arbovirologia e Febres Hemorrágicas, Instituto Evandro Chagas, Rodovia BR-316, Km 07, CEP 67030-000, Ananindeua, Pará, Brazil; email: pedrovasconcelos@iec.pa.gov.br