Short report: Decrease in seroprevalence of antibodies to hantavirus in rodents from 1993-1994 hantavirus pulmonary syndrome case sites

• Published in: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene Vol. 58; no. 6; pp. 737 - 738
• Main Authors: Engelthaler, DM, Levy, CE, Fink, TM, Tanda, D, Davis, T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lawrence, KS ASTMH 01.06.1998; Allen Press
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies, Viral - blood; Arizona - epidemiology; Biological and medical sciences; Colorado - epidemiology; Disease Outbreaks; Disease Reservoirs; Follow-Up Studies; Hantavirus - immunology; Hantavirus Infections - epidemiology; Hantavirus Infections - veterinary; Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome - epidemiology; Human viral diseases; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; Peromyscus; Prevalence; Rodent Diseases - epidemiology; Rodentia; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the respiratory system and ent viral diseases; United States; North America; Colorado; America; Arizona; Lung disease; Prevalence; Respiratory disease; Antibody; Rodentia; Serology; Epidemiology; Virus; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Bunyaviridae; Peromyscus maniculatus; Hantavirus; Pneumopathy; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0002-9637; 1476-1645
• DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.1998.58.737

Rodent trapping was conducted at seven hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) case sites from June 1993 to March 1994 during the HPS outbreak in the southwestern United States. To determine if there were changes in the rodent population or the hantavirus seroprevalence in rodents since the HPS outbreak, rodents were trapped at the same sites three years later using the same trapping protocol. The trap success decreased from the numbers trapped during the outbreak, however, the number of Peromyscus, as a percentage of the total rodents captured, did not noticeably decrease. In addition, the seroprevalence of hantavirus antibodies in Peromyscus decreased significantly (P < 0.0001).