title: A novel hantavirus associated with an outbreak of fatal respiratory disease in the southwestern United States: evolutionary relationships to known hantaviruses.
abstract: Four Corners hantavirus (FCV) is the tentative name of the suspected etiologic agent of the newly identified hantavirus-associated respiratory distress syndrome (HARDS). The identification in HARDS patients of serum immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin G antibodies that cross-reacted with Hantaan, Seoul, and Puumala virus antigens first suggested that FCV is a hantavirus. Limited nucleotide sequence data from the FCV glycoprotein-2 (G2) confirmed that FCV is a hantavirus and showed that it is most closely related to Prospect Hill and Puumala viruses. We have molecularly cloned approximately 95% of the sequences of the M and S segments of the FCV genome encoding the envelope glycoproteins and nucleocapsid protein N from the lungs of a patient with HARDS. The nucleotide sequence has been determined for 2,632 bases. The nucleotide sequence data show that FCV is a new member of the Puumala virus and Prospect Hill virus division of the hantavirus genus. Phylogenetic tree analyses indicate that the M and S segments have evolved in parallel. Therefore, the novel pathogenic activity of FCV is not likely to be the result of recent reassortment of segments from less pathogenic viruses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque 87131.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hjelle
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jenison
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Torrez-Martinez
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nolte
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zumwalt
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: MacInnes
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Myers
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002044:Bunyaviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002213:Capsid / Q000235:genetics*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D012377:Rodentia / Q000382:microbiology; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015206:Southwestern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D013577:Syndrome; D014758:Viral Core Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D014758:Viral Core Proteins; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins