title: Seroprevalence of hantaviruses in small wild mammals trapped in South Korea from 2005 to 2010.
abstract: The seroprevalence of Hantaan virus (HTNV) in wild rodents in South Korea was analyzed. Wild rodents were trapped in 18 cities in eight provinces during 2005-2007 and on three islands and four mountains during 2008-2010. Sera were collected from 629 out of 933 trapped wild animals and examined for immunoglobulin G antibodies to HTNV using indirect immunofluorescence assays. Apodemus agrarius (80.1%) was the most frequently captured species at almost all trapping sites. The overall prevalence of HTNV antibodies was 0.26 (162/629). Seropositive individuals were more frequent in cities (32.2%, n=410) than on islands (14.0%, n=57) or mountains (13.6%, n= 162). HTNV antibody-positive rate was higher in the fall (29.6%, n=253) than in the spring (23.1%, n=376). A. agrarius had the highest prevalence of HTNV antibodies (26.9%, n=561) of all tested species. Considering all the individuals, the prevalence of HTNV antibodies was higher in males (29.2%, n=250) than in females (22.3%, n=305). Our results show that HTNV is widely distributed throughout South Korea, and that HTNV infection of wild rodents is affected by their habitat, species, sex, and season.
authors.affiliation: Division of Arboviruses, Center for Immunology and Pathology, National Institute of Health, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Gangoe-myeon, Cheongwon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea.
authors.forename: Mi Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Jungsang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ryou
authors.forename: Su Yeon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: E-Hyun
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Youn Jeong
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Seok-Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Yoon Tae
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.forename: Myung Guk
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Young Ran
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Ju
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000821:virology*; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008322:Mammals / Q000821:virology*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies