Genetic Diversity and Distribution of Peromyscus-Borne Hantaviruses in North America

• Main Authors: Martha C. Monroe, Sergey P. Morzunov, Angela M. Johnson, Michael D. Bowen, Harvey Artsob, Terry Yates, C.J. Peters, Pierre E. Rollin, Thomas G. Ksiazek, Stuart T. Nichol
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1999-02-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Canada; United States
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/5/1/99-0109_article
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059

The 1993 outbreak of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the southwestern United States was associated with Sin Nombre virus, a rodent-borne hantavirus; The virus' primary reservoir is the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus). Hantavirus-infected rodents were identified in various regions of North America. An extensive nucleotide sequence database of an 139 bp fragment amplified from virus M genomic segments was generated. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that SNV-like hantaviruses are widely distributed in Peromyscus species rodents throughout North America. Classic SNV is the major cause of HPS in North America, but other Peromyscine-borne hantaviruses, e.g., New York and Monongahela viruses, are also associated with HPS cases. Although genetically diverse, SNV-like viruses have slowly coevolved with their rodent hosts. We show that the genetic relationships of hantaviruses in the Americas are complex, most likely as a result of the rapid radiation and speciation of New World sigmodontine rodents and occasional virus-host switching events.