title: Hantavirus infection among wild small mammals in Vellore, south India.
abstract: Wild indigenous small mammals including 83 rodents (bandicoot and black rats, and house mice) and a shrew captured from multiple sites in Vellore, south India, were tested for serological and molecular evidence of hantavirus infection. Indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using Hantaan virus (HTNV) antigen indicated hantavirus-reactive antibodies in 16 (19.3%) of 83 rodents (bandicoot and black rats). Western blot (WB) using Thailand virus (THAIV) antigen confirmed hantavirus-reactive antibodies in nine of the 16 HTNV IFA-positive rodents. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of lung and kidney tissue of captured mammals resulted in the detection of partial S segment sequence in a bandicoot rat. This study complements our earlier reports on hantavirus epidemiology in south India and documents first laboratory evidence for rodent-associated hantaviruses in south India.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Virology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chandy
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Ulrich
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schlegel
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Petraityte
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sasnauskas
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Prakash
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Balraj
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sridharan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D005260:Female; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018778:Hantavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009115:Muridae; D015047:Zoonoses