title: Isolation and characterization of a novel arenavirus harbored by Rodents and Shrews in Zhejiang province, China.
abstract: To determine the biodiversity of arenaviruses in China, we captured and screened rodents and shrews in Wenzhou city, Zhejiang province, a locality where hemorrhagic fever diseases are endemic in humans. Accordingly, arenaviruses were detected in 42 of 351 rodents from eight species, and in 12 of 272 Asian house shrews (Suncus murinus), by RT-PCR targeting the L segment. From these, a single arenavirus was successfully isolated in cell culture. The virion particles exhibited a typical arenavirus morphology under transmission electron microscopy. Comparison of the S and L segment sequences revealed high levels of nucleotide (>32.2% and >39.6%) and amino acid (>28.8% and >43.8%) sequence differences from known arenaviruses, suggesting that it represents a novel arenavirus, which we designated Wenzhou virus (WENV). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all WENV strains harbored by both rodents and Asian house shrews formed a distinct lineage most closely related to Old World arenaviruses.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Department of Zoonoses, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changping, Beijing, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Wenzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Xian-Dan
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Department of Zoonoses, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changping, Beijing, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Department of Zoonoses, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changping, Beijing, China; Wencheng Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Mang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Department of Zoonoses, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changping, Beijing, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wen-Ping
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Wenzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-He
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Wencheng Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Guang
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Department of Zoonoses, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changping, Beijing, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Rong
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Lucheng Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Department of Zoonoses, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changping, Beijing, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Ming-Hui
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Longwan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Hai
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Ruian Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ruian, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Mu-Liu
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Department of Zoonoses, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changping, Beijing, China; Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Charles Perkins Centre, School of Biological Sciences and Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Edward C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Department of Zoonoses, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changping, Beijing, China; Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: zhangyongzhen@icdc.cn.
authors.forename: Yong-Zhen
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018050:Arenavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002681:China; D016679:Genome, Viral; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009115:Muridae / Q000821:virology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D051381:Rats; D012788:Shrews / Q000821:virology*
keywords: Arenavirus; Cross-species transmission; Emergence; Rodents; Shrews; Spill-over