Hantavirus reservoirs: current status with an emphasis on data from Brazil.
Since the recognition of hantavirus as the agent responsible for haemorrhagic fever in Eurasia in the 1970s and, 20 years later, the descovery of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in the Americas, the genus Hantavirus has been continually described throughout the World in a variety of wild animals. The diversity of wild animals infected with hantaviruses has only recently come into focus as a result of expanded wildlife studies. The known reservoirs are more than 80, belonging to 51 species of rodents, 7 bats (order Chiroptera) and 20 shrews and moles (order Soricomorpha). More than 80 genetically related viruses have been classified within Hantavirus genus; 25 recognized as human pathogens responsible for a large spectrum of diseases in the Old and New World. In Brazil, where the diversity of mammals and especially rodents is considered one of the largest in the world, 9 hantavirus genotypes have been identified in 12 rodent species belonging to the genus Akodon, Calomys, Holochilus, Oligoryzomys, Oxymycterus, Necromys and Rattus. Considering the increasing number of animals that have been implicated as reservoirs of different hantaviruses, the understanding of this diversity is important for evaluating the risk of distinct hantavirus species as human pathogens.
Laboratório de Hantaviroses e Rickettsioses, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, 21040-360, RJ, Brazil. reoliveira@ioc.fiocruz.br.
Renata Carvalho
RC
de Oliveira
Laboratório de Hantaviroses e Rickettsioses, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, 21040-360, RJ, Brazil. guterres@ioc.fiocruz.br.
Alexandro
A
Guterres
Laboratório de Hantaviroses e Rickettsioses, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, 21040-360, RJ, Brazil. jorlan@ioc.fiocruz.br.
Jorlan
J
Fernandes
Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Silvestres Reservatórios, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, 21040-360, RJ, Brazil. dandrea@ioc.fiocruz.br.
Paulo Sérgio
PS
D'Andrea
Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Silvestres Reservatórios, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, 21040-360, RJ, Brazil. cibelerb@inca.gov.br.
Cibele Rodrigues
CR
Bonvicino
Laboratório de Hantaviroses e Rickettsioses, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, 21040-360, RJ, Brazil. elemos@ioc.fiocruz.br.
Elba Regina Sampaio
ER
de Lemos
D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D006476:Orthohantavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012377:Rodentia / Q000821:virology*