title: Hantavirus and arenavirus antibody prevalence in rodents and humans in Trentino, Northern Italy.
abstract: The spatial and temporal distribution of hantavirus and arenavirus antibody-positive wild rodents in Trentino, Italy, was studied using immunofluorescence assays (IFA) in two long-term sites trapped in 2000-2003, and six other sites trapped in 2002. The overall hantavirus seroprevalence in the bank voles, Clethrionomys glareolus (n=229) screened for Puumala virus (PUUV) antibodies was 0.4%, and that for Apodemus flavicollis mice (n=1416) screened for Dobrava virus (DOBV) antibodies was 0.2%. Antibodies against lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) were found in 82 (5.6%) of the 1472 tested rodents; the seroprevalence being 6.1% in A. flavicollis (n=1181), 3.3% in C. glareolus (n=276), and 14.3% in Microtus arvalis (n=7). Of the serum samples of 488 forestry workers studied by IFA, 12 were LCMV-IgG positive (2.5%) and one DOBV-IgG positive (0.2%), however, the latter could not be confirmed DOBV-specific with a neutralization assay. Our results show a widespread distribution but low prevalence of DOBV in Trentino, and demonstrate that the arenavirus antibodies are a common finding in several other rodent species besides the house mouse.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland. Hannimari.Kallio-Kokko@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kallio-Kokko
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Laakkonen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rizzoli
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tagliapietra
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cattadori
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Perkins
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cristofolini
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Versini
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vapalahti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vaheri
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Henttonen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D018050:Arenavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D004199:Disease Vectors; D005260:Female; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012377:Rodentia / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral