title: Detection of hantaviral antibodies among patients with hepatitis of unknown etiology in Japan.
abstract: Hantaviral antibodies were detected in the sera from patients with hepatic disease of unknown etiology in Japan by several different serological diagnostic methods. A total of 105 sera from diseased patients which were negative to A-G hepatitis virus infections in the Tokyo area were tested. Among them, 3 out of 73 sera from patients with chronic hepatic disease were positive to hantaviral antibody by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), indirect immunofluorescent antibody assay (IFA) and Western blot analysis (WB). Neutralizing antibody titers of the 3 sera to Seoul virus (SEO) were 4 to 8 times higher than those to Hantaan virus (HTN). However, all of the 32 sera from patients with acute hepatitis were negative for hantaviral antibody. Among the 60 patients with chronic hepatitis in Hokkaido which were serologically negative to B and C hepatitis virus infection, one was positive for hantaviral antibody by ELISA and WB. In contrast, the sera from healthy adults in Japan, 550 from the Honshu and Kyushu regions, and 1,000 from the Hokkaido region, were negative for hantavirus antibody. These results show that hantaviral antibodies are more frequently detected in patients with hepatic disease than in healthy adults. However, the observation that no positive sera were detected from patients with acute hepatitis implies that hantavirus might not be directly related to hepatitis.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Public Health, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kariwa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshimatsu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Araki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chayama
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kumada
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ogino
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ebihara
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mizutani
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Takashima
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arikawa
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000276:immunology*; D018778:Hantavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D006505:Hepatitis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008875:Middle Aged; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012698:Serologic Tests; D014709:Vero Cells
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D006508:Hepatitis Antibodies