First record of orthohantavirus circulating in Akodon montensis populations in Argentina. Where are the infected individuals?

BURGOS, ELIANA; VADELL, MARÍA VICTORIA; BELLOMO, CARLA; MARTINEZ, PAULA VALERIA; SALOMON, OSCAR DANIEL; GÓMEZ VILLAFAÑE, ISABEL ELISA

Congreso; 100th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists; 2021

The genus Orthohantavirus is a diverse and worldwide group of viruses, some of which cause Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), an endemic disease of the Americas transmitted by cricetid rodents. Due to their great diversity and the lack of sufficient studies in remote areas, it is almost certain that the number of reservoirs and genotypes circulating is underestimated. The aim of this work was to identify the prevalence of orthohantavirus in the rodent community of northern Misiones, Argentina, and to study its spatial patterns. Live-capture sessions were carried out seasonality during two years in urban, peri-urban, rural and natural protected areas. With an effort of 30.783 traps-night, we captured 719 animals from ten species which the most abundant was Akodon montensis. Antibodies against orthohantavirus were detected only in A. montensis in natural protected and peri-urban areas and it species was registered also in rural area where we did not detected infected individuals. The spatial focality observed could be related with a threshold population density and, in our study, prevalence of orthohantavirus was positively related to host abundance. We did not detected any association between orthohantavirus infection with richness and diversity of the rodent community. This results shows the importance of investigations and surveillance about emerging diseases.