Phylogenetically distinct hantaviruses in the masked shrew (Sorex cinereus) and dusky shrew (Sorex monticolus) in the United States.
A limited search for hantaviruses in lung and liver tissues of Sorex shrews (family Soricidae, subfamily Soricinae) revealed phylogenetically distinct hantaviruses in the masked shrew (Sorex cinereus) from Minnesota and in the dusky shrew (Sorex monticolus) from New Mexico and Colorado. The discovery of these shrew-borne hantaviruses, named Ash River virus and Jemez Springs virus, respectively, challenges the long-held dogma that rodents are the sole reservoir hosts and forces a re-examination of their co-evolutionary history. Also, studies now underway are aimed at clarifying the epizootiology and pathogenicity of these new members of the genus Hantavirus.
Arai
Satoru
S
John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96813, USA.
Bennett
Shannon N
SN
Sumibcay
Laarni
L
Cook
Joseph A
JA
Song
Jin-Won
JW
Hope
Andrew
A
Parmenter
Cheryl
C
Nerurkar
Vivek R
VR
Yates
Terry L
TL
Yanagihara
Richard
R
D000818:Animals; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000821:virology; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018778:Hantavirus Infections / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology; D008168:Lung / Q000821:virology; D010802:Phylogeny; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012788:Shrews / Q000821:virology*; D014481:United States