Serological evidence of Thailand virus-related hantavirus infection among suspected leptospirosis patients in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
A cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine the current prevalence of leptospirosis and hantaviral infections, and the socio-demographic characteristics and risk factors of infected patients, in Kandy, Sri Lanka. This report discusses the serological evidence of hantavirus infections among 105 suspected leptospirosis patients, 8 of whom had hantavirus antibodies. Serotyping ELISA showed that these 8 patients had high optical density values for Thailand virus. Most of the sera showed that the focus reduction neutralization test titer against Thailand virus was higher than that against Seoul virus, thereby suggesting that the hantaviral antibodies found in Sri Lanka are different from Seoul virus but closely related to Thailand virus. These findings imply that the hantaviral infection found in Kandy, Sri Lanka appears to be due to a virus similar to Thailand virus. Epidemiological analysis revealed that the association between hantavirus infection and socio-demographic characteristics was not statistically significant.
Department of Global Health and Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan.
Chandika D
CD
Gamage
Shumpei P
SP
Yasuda
Sanae
S
Nishio
Senanayake A
SA
Kularatne
Kosala
K
Weerakoon
Jayanthe
J
Rajapakse
Chinyere
C
Nwafor-Okoli
Romeo B
RB
Lee
Yoshi
Y
Obayashi
Kumiko
K
Yoshimatsu
Jiro
J
Arikawa
Hiko
H
Tamashiro
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002415:Cats; D002417:Cattle; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D018778:Hantavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D013188:Sri Lanka / Q000453:epidemiology; D013785:Thailand; D055815:Young Adult
D000914:Antibodies, Viral