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Serological evidence of hantavirus infection in rural and urban regions in the state of Amazonas, Brazil
Gimaque, João Bosco Lima; Bastos, Michele de Souza; Braga, Wornei Silva Miranda; Costa de Oliveira1, Cintia Mara; da Costa Castilho, Márcia; Pinto de Figueiredo, Regina Maria; dos Santos Galusso, Elizabeth; Itapirema, Evaulino Ferreira; de Figueiredo, Luiz Tadeu Moraes & Mourão, Maria Paula Gomes
Abstract
Hantavirus disease is caused by the hantavirus, which is an RNA virus belonging to the family Bunyaviridae. Hantavirus disease is an anthropozoonotic infection transmitted through the inhalation of aerosols from the excreta of hantavirus-infected rodents. In the county of Itacoatiara in the state of Amazonas (AM), Brazil, the first human cases of hantavirus pulmonary and cardiovascular syndrome were described in July 2004. These first cases were
followed by two fatal cases, one in the municipality of Maués in 2005 and another in Itacoatiara in 2007. In this
study, we investigated the antibody levels to hantavirus in a population of 1,731 individuals from four different counties
of AM. Sera were tested by IgG/IgM- enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay using a recombinant nucleocapsid
protein of the Araraquara hantavirus as an antigen. Ten sera were IgG positive to hantavirus (0.6%). Among the positive
sera, 0.8% (1/122), 0.4% (1/256), 0.2% (1/556) and 0.9% (7/797) were from Atalaia do Norte, Careiro Castanho,
Itacoatiara and Lábrea, respectively. None of the sera in this survey were IgM-positive. Because these counties are
distributed in different areas of AM, we can assume that infected individuals are found throughout the entire state,
which suggests that hantavirus disease could be a local emerging health problem.
Keywords
hantavirus - IgG antibodies to hantavirus - western Brazilian Amazon
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