title: Comment on Jameson et al.: Prevalence of antibodies against hantaviruses in serum and saliva of adults living or working on farms in Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
abstract: This British hantavirus IgG prevalence study, aimed at 119 asymptomatic farmers in England, and using indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) as screening technique, concluded that rat-transmitted Seoul virus (SEOV) might be the main suspect as hantaviral pathogen in the UK. Exactly the same conclusion, using the same IFA screening technique, resulted from a 1994 serosurvey in the same country, and in 627 clinical cases plus 100 healthy controls. SEOV-positive study subjects were also mainly farmers with heavy rat-exposure, but residing in Northern-Ireland, a region where all other known rodent reservoirs for pathogenic hantaviruses are known to be absent, except the wild rat. A rodent capture action in and around the farms of eight seropositives confirmed SEOV seropositivity in 21.6% of 51 rats. All SEOV seropositives were patients, hospitalized with an acute feverish condition, a majority of which having the clinical picture of hantavirus-induced nephropathy, known as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). Leptospirosis, often mimicking perfectly HFRS, was serologically excluded. Thus, SEOV was established as a human hantaviral pathogen in the UK and in Europe 20 years ago.
authors.affiliation: National Reference Centre for Hantavirus Infections, Laboratory of Clinical Virology, University Hospitals Gasthuisberg, Leuven, 3000, Belgium. jan.clement@uzleuven.be.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clement
authors.affiliation: Janssen, Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Beerse, 2340, Belgium. pmckenna@its.jnj.com.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McKenna
authors.affiliation: National Reference Centre for Hantavirus Infections, Laboratory of Clinical Virology, University Hospitals Gasthuisberg, Leuven, 3000, Belgium. valentijn.vergote@uzleuven.be.
authors.forename: Valentijn
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vergote
authors.affiliation: National Reference Centre for Hantavirus Infections, Laboratory of Clinical Virology, University Hospitals Gasthuisberg, Leuven, 3000, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Ranst
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D018063:Hantaan virus / Q000276:immunology*; D006480:Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012463:Saliva / Q000276:immunology*; D029263:Seoul virus / Q000276:immunology*; D044967:Serum / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral