Hemorrhagic Fever With Renal Syndrome in Vladivostok City, Russia

Liudmila N Yashina; John Hay; Natalia A Smetannikova; Tatiana V Kushnareva; Olga V Iunikhina; Galina G Kompanets

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.620279

Hemorrhagic Fever With Renal Syndrome in Vladivostok City, Russia

Front Public Health. 2021 Feb 5:9:620279. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.620279. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Liudmila N Yashina¹, John Hay², Natalia A Smetannikova¹, Tatiana V Kushnareva³, Olga V Iunikhina⁴, Galina G Kompanets⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genomic Research, State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology "Vector", Koltsovo, Russia.
² Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, United States.
³ Department of Microbiology and Virology, Pacific State Medical University, Vladivostok, Russia.
⁴ Laboratory of Experimental Virology, Somov Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Vladivostok, Russia.

Abstract

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a public health problem in Vladivostok city, Russia. From 1997 to 2019, a study of hantaviruses in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus), a natural reservoir of Seoul virus (SEOV), and in HFRS patients was conducted. We demonstrated the presence of SEOV in the local population of Norway rats and detected SEOV in 10, Amur virus (AMRV) in 4 and Hantaan virus (HTNV) in 1 out of 15 HFRS patients. Genetic analysis based on partial S, M and L segment sequences revealed that the Russian SEOV strains were related most closely to strains from Cambodia and Vietnam. We postulate that the SEOV strains found in the port city of Vladivostok have been spread from South-East Asia as a result of distribution of rats during standard shipping trade activities. Moreover, we suggest that city residents may have acquired AMRV and HTNV infection during visits to rural areas.

Keywords: Rattus norvegicus; Russia; Seoul virus; Vladivostok; hantavirus; hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cambodia
Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome* / epidemiology
Humans
Rats
Russia / epidemiology
Seoul virus* / genetics
Vietnam