Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome caused by 2 lineages of Dobrava hantavirus, Russia

Emerg Infect Dis. 2008 Apr;14(4):617-25. doi: 10.3201/eid1404.071310.

Abstract

Dobrava-Belgrade virus (DOBV) is a European hantavirus that causes hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS); case-fatality rates in Balkan countries are as high as 12%. To determine causative agents, we examined 126 cases of DOBV-associated HFRS in central and southern European Russia. In central Russia (Lipetsk, Voronezh, Orel regions), outbreaks were caused by a DOBV variant (DOBV-Aa) carried by Apodemus agrarius. In southern Russia (Sochi district), where HFRS is endemic, HFRS cases were caused by a new DOBV variant (DOBV-Ap), found in A. ponticus, a novel hantavirus natural host. Both viruses, DOBV-Aa/Lipetsk and DOBV-Ap/Sochi, were isolated through Vero E6 cells, genetically characterized, and used for serotyping of the HFRS patients' serum. The clinical severity of HFRS caused by DOBV-Aa resembles that of HFRS caused by Puumala virus (mild to moderate); clinical severity of disease caused by DOBV-Ap infections is more often moderate to severe.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood
  • Chlorocebus aethiops
  • Female
  • Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome / epidemiology*
  • Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome / virology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Orthohantavirus / classification*
  • Orthohantavirus / genetics
  • Orthohantavirus / immunology
  • Orthohantavirus / isolation & purification
  • Phylogeny
  • Rodentia / virology
  • Russia / epidemiology
  • Serotyping
  • Vero Cells

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral