Rapid and Simple Method for Screening Wild Rodents for Antibodies to Sin Nombre Hantavirus

Abstract

Sin Nombre hantavirus (SNV) is the primary etiologic agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in the United States and Canada. Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome is a zoonotic disease. The most common reservoir is the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), although numerous other species of wild rodent can carry the viruses that cause HCPS throughout the Americas. Infected rodents show no signs of clinical disease but they develop persistent infection. Sin Nombre virus can be contracted by exposure to feces, urine, or saliva of its rodent reservoirs. Detection of infection in rodents is most often based upon detection of specific antibodies; many laboratories use enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), which require a specialized electrical ELISA reader. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay readers are not readily amenable to field usage. We describe a portable test, the strip immunoblot assay (SIA), which we have utilized in field diagnosis. The test can be conducted in approximately 6 hr during the day or can be conducted overnight. The test can be used to detect rodents positive for SNV antibody while they are in traps. We show that results with the SIA have excellent concordance with western blot and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction tests.

Differential Resource Allocation in Deer Mice Exposed to Sin Nombre Virus

“…Our results show that there are no appreciable differences in PHAinduced swelling between reproductive and nonreproductive NR/ -R/ + males with the same infection status, and we found similar patterns for SNV-seronegative females. Although laboratorybased studies have shown that hantaviruses do have an immediate impact on deer mice survival (Hjelle and Yates 2001;Yee et al 2003), our results in wild deer mice counter this interpretation: reduced immunocompetence associated with SNV infection could render hosts more susceptible to other pathogenic infections, which may directly limit their longevity or fertility. It is noteworthy that the incidence of new hantaviral infections among hosts varies across seasons and is generally highest during periods coinciding with peak reproductive activity .…”

Antagonism of Type I Interferon Responses by New World Hantaviruses

“…For construction of the V5-tagged ANDV NP expression plasmid, ANDV NP was PCR amplified and directionally cloned into a Gateway entry vector (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA), followed by subcloning into pcDNA3.1-nV5-DEST (Invitrogen) to generate an N-terminal V5 epitope-tagged ANDV NP. SNV NP and GPC ORF were subcloned into pCAGGS/MCS from NP and GPC ORF-containing pET vectors, kind gifts from Brian Hjelle (62). The SNV NP ORF was inserted into pCAGGS/MCS by PCR amplification using forward and reverse primers to insert a leading KpnI restriction site and Kozak sequence and a trailing XhoI restriction site.…”

Ecology, Genetic Diversity, and Phylogeographic Structure of Andes Virus in Humans and Rodents in Chile

“…Rodent antibody against ANDV was detected in blood samples using a strip immunoblot assay as previously described (63,66). We used positive serology to identify individuals for viral sequence determination.…”