Infección por hantavirus y otros virus transmitidos por roedores / Infection due to Hantavirus and other rodent-borne viruses

Bajo el término "robovirus" (rodent-borne viruses) se engloban virus pertenecientes a las familias Bunyaviridae (género Hantavirus) y Arenaviridae que ocasionalmente se transmiten al hombre a partir de roedores, sus reservorios naturales. Los hantavirus causan dos enfermedades humanas: la fiebre hemorrágica con síndrome renal y el síndrome pulmonar por hantavirus. Los arenavirus causan en el hombre fiebres hemorrágicas o enfermedad aguda del sistema nervioso central. Este artículo presenta una revisión sobre los aspectos relativos a la biología, epidemiología, patogenia, manifestaciones clínicas, diagnóstico, tratamiento y prevención de las infecciones por hantavirus y, de forma más concisa, por arenavirus (AU)

The term "robovirus" (rodent-borne virus) refers to viruses belonging to the Bunyaviridae (genus Hantavirus) and Arenaviridae families, which are occasionally transmitted to human beings from rodents, their natural hosts. Hantaviruses cause two human diseases: hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Arenaviruses produce hemorrhagic fevers or acute central nervous system disease in humans. This article reviews the biology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical features, diagnostic methods, treatment and prevention of hantavirus and, more concisely, arenavirus infections (AU)

Infectious agents and the etiology of chronic idiopathic diseases.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the field of microbiology was born, and the infectious nature of many previously unexplained diseases was illuminated as powerful new technology was applied. At the end of the twentieth century, the etiology of myriad chronic diseases remains unexplained. We have argued that many of these diseases have clinical, epidemiological, and pathological features that suggest a role for microbes in their pathogenesis. Although definitive evidence of microbial disease causation is lacking, we believe that new technologies, such as sequence-based microbial identification, will successfully be applied to many of these chronic idiopathic diseases in the near future. As novel pathogens and previously described pathogens are revealed as the causative agents for some of these conditions, new diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic modalities may emerge, transforming some diseases from idiopathic and chronic, to infectious and curable.

Antigenic relationships of hantavirus strains analysed by monoclonal antibodies.

The antigenic relationships among 71 hantavirus strains, isolated from rodent species or humans in several geographic regions, were examined by immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using human patient sera and a panel of 22 monoclonal antibodies prepared against Hantaan, Seoul, and Puumala viruses. The study included virus strains, mainly from the former USSR, for which little or no serological data were available. Fifty-nine of the 71 isolates could be placed into five antigenic groups of hantaviruses, Hantaan (HTN), Puumala (PUU), Seoul (SEO), Prospect Hill (PH), Dobrava/Belgrade (DOB). Twelve isolates were found antigenically closely related to, but distinct from, HTN (2 strains), PUU (4 strains) and PH (6 strains), respectively. The antigenic characteristics of these 12 isolates suggested two supplementary antigenic subgroups of HTN, one of PUU, and two of PH. The two antigenic subgroups of HTN included strains isolated in the Far-East of Russia. The PUU subgroup included strains isolated in European Russia as well as strains isolated in Far-Eastern Russia. The PH group comprised two subgroups, both represented by strains isolated from M. fortis in Far-Eastern Russia. The results showed that the PUU and PH antigenic groups are more complex than previously known and that PH-like virus strains isolated in Russia are antigenically more closely related to PUU virus when compared to prototype PH virus isolated in the USA.