Filling the gaps in the Argentinian distribution of orthohantavirus: First finding of Lechiguanas virus in rodents from Corrientes, Argentina

GÓMEZ VILLAFAÑE, ISABEL E.; BELLOMO, CARLA M.; ROSPIDE, MALENA; BLANCO, PAULA; COELHO, ROCÍO; ALONSO, DANIEL O.; ARNICA, DIANA; SANCHEZ LORIA, JULIÁN; FIGINI, IARA; CAMPOS, JOSEFINA; MARTÍNEZ, VALERIA P.; OROZCO, MARÍA MARCELA

ZOONOSES AND PUBLIC HEALTH

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2023

1863-1959

Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) is an emerging infectious disease caused byorthohantaviruses in the Americas. In Argentina, since 1995, several reservoirs andvirus variants have been described, but the northeastern and central endemic zonesin the country include an area without human or rodent infections, despite sharingrodent species with areas with that disease. The aim of this study was to search fororthohantavirus in rodent communities that inhabit this area, which borders two endemicareas of HPS. Small rodents were captured in June of 2022 through a totaleffort of 644 trap nights distributed in five grids located in the Iberá National Park,Corrientes, Northeastern Argentina. All rodents were sexed, weighed, and the specieswas recorded. Blood samples were extracted to detect ANDV-specificimmunoglobulinG (IgG), and to extract the RNA virus. Trimmed sequences were mappedagainst reference sequences from GenBank. We captured a total of 36 Oligoryzomysflavescens and 15 Oxymycterus rufus. We detected the O. flavescens species infectedwith Lechiguanas orthohantavirus in the camping area of the National Park. A nucleotidecomparison with previously published sequences shows a 98.34% similarityto the virus obtained from a human case of HPS reported in the adjacent Misionesprovince. This study demonstrated, for the first time, that O. flavescens is a host of theLechiguanas orthohantavirus in this zone and contributes to closing information gapson the distribution of orthohantavirus in Argentina. Additionally, the high similaritywith the hantavirus found in the human case of Misiones suggests that the reservoirin that province would also be O. flavescens (not previously confirmed). This informationpermits us to focus on the preventive measurements to protect the humanpopulation.