Search results for "Puumala virus"

Rodent host population dynamics drive zoonotic Lyme Borreliosis and Orthohantavirus infections in humans in Northern Europe

2021

Zoonotic diseases, caused by pathogens transmitted between other vertebrate animals and humans, pose a major risk to human health. Rodents are important reservoir hosts for many zoonotic pathogens, and rodent population dynamics affect the infection dynamics of rodent-borne diseases, such as diseases caused by hantaviruses. However, the role of rodent population dynamics in determining the infection dynamics of rodent-associated tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme borreliosis (LB), caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato bacteria, have gained limited attention in Northern Europe, despite the multiannual abundance fluctuations, the so-called vole cycles, that characterise rodent population d…

Chimaeric HBV core particles carrying a defined segment of Puumala hantavirus nucleocapsid protein evoke protective immunity in an animal model

1998

Abstract Hantaviruses are rodent-born agents which are pathogenic in humans causing haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome or hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. To induce a protective immunity against a European hantavirus (Puumala) we constructed chimaeric hepatitis B virus (HBV) core particles carrying defined fragments of the Puumala virus nucleocapsid protein. After immunisation of bank voles, the natural host of Puumala virus, with core particles possessing an insertion of the N-terminal part of Puumala virus nucleocapsid protein, four of five animals were protected against subsequent virus challenge. The results show that the major protective region of the nucleocapsid protein is located …

ENDEMIC HANTAVIRUS INFECTION IMPAIRS THE WINTER SURVIVAL OF ITS RODENT HOST

2007

The influence of pathogens on host fitness is one of the key questions in infection ecology. Hantaviruses have coevolved with their hosts and are generally thought to have little or no effect on host survival or reproduction. We examined the effect of Puumala virus (PUUV) infection on the winter survival of bank voles (Myodes glareolus), the host of this virus. The data were collected by monitoring 22 islands over three consecutive winters (a total of 55 island populations) in an endemic area of central Finland. We show that PUUV infected bank voles had a significantly lower overwinter survival probability than antibody negative bank voles. Antibody negative female bank voles from low-densi…

2016

AbstractUnderstanding the dynamics of zoonotic pathogens in their reservoir host populations is a prerequisite for predicting and preventing human disease epidemics. The human infection risk of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV) is highest in northern Europe, where populations of the rodent host (bank vole, Myodes glareolus) undergo cyclic fluctuations. We conducted a 7-year capture-mark-recapture study to monitor seasonal and multiannual patterns of the PUUV infection rate in bank vole populations exhibiting a 3-year density cycle. Infected bank voles were most abundant in mid-winter months during years of increasing or peak host density. Prevalence of PUUV infection in bank voles exhibited a regul…

Microevolution of bank voles (Myodes glareolus) at neutral and immune-related genes during multiannual dynamic cycles: consequences for Puumala hanta…

2017

ABSTRACTUnderstanding how host dynamics, including variations of population size and dispersal, may affect the epidemiology of infectious diseases through ecological and evolutionary processes is an active research area. Here we focus on a bank vole (Myodes glareolus) metapopulation surveyed in Finland between 2005 and 2009. Bank vole is the reservoir of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV), the agent of nephropathia epidemica (NE, a mild form of hemorrhagic fever with renal symptom) in humans.M glareoluspopulations experience multiannual density fluctuations that may influence the level of genetic diversity maintained in bank voles, PUUV prevalence and NE occurrence. We examine bank vole metapopulati…

Cyclic hantavirus epidemics in humans--predicted by rodent host dynamics.

2009

Wildlife-originated zoonotic diseases are a major contributor to emerging infectious diseases. Hantaviruses cause thousands of human disease cases annually worldwide, and understanding and predicting human hantavirus epidemics still poses unsolved challenges. Here we studied the three-level relationships between the human disease nephropathia epidemica (NE), its etiological agent Puumala hantavirus (PUUV) and the rodent host of the virus, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). A large and long-term data set (14 years, 2583 human NE cases and 4751 trapped bank voles) indicates that the number of human infections shows both seasonal and multi-annual fluctuations, is influenced by the phase of vole…

Circulation and diagnostics of Puumala virus in Norway: nephropatia epidemica incidence and rodent population dynamics.

2017

Hantaviruses pose a public health concern worldwide causing haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Puumala virus (PUUV) is the most prevalent hantavirus in Central and Northern Europe, and causes a mild form of HFRS, also known as nephropathia epidemica (NE). In nature, the main host of PUUV is the bank vole (Myodes glareolus), and transmission to humans occurs through inhalation of aerosols from rodent excreta. Nephropathia epidemica is particularly prevalent in Nordic countries, however, few studies of PUUV have been performed in Norway. The aim of this study was to analyse the dynamics of PUUV in Norway and compare with bank vole population…

An amino-terminal segment of hantavirus nucleocapsid protein presented on hepatitis B virus core particles induces a strong and highly cross-reactive…

2004

AbstractPreviously, we have demonstrated that hepatitis B virus (HBV) core particles tolerate the insertion of the amino-terminal 120 amino acids (aa) of the Puumala hantavirus nucleocapsid (N) protein. Here, we demonstrate that the insertion of 120 amino-terminal aa of N proteins from highly virulent Dobrava and Hantaan hantaviruses allows the formation of chimeric core particles. These particles expose the inserted foreign protein segments, at least in part, on their surface. Analysis by electron cryomicroscopy of chimeric particles harbouring the Puumala virus (PUUV) N segment revealed 90% T = 3 and 10% T = 4 shells. A map computed from T = 3 shells shows additional density splaying out …

Prolonged survival of Puumala hantavirus outside the host: evidence for indirect transmission via the environment

2006

The capability of rodent-borne viruses to survive outside the host is critical for the transmission dynamics within rodent populations and to humans. The transmission of Puumala virus (PUUV) in colonized bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) was investigated and additional longevity studies in cell culture with PUUV and Tula (TULV) hantaviruses were performed. Wild-type PUUV excreted by experimentally infected donor bank voles was shown to be transmitted indirectly between rodents through contaminated beddings, and maintained its infectivity to recipient voles at room temperature for 12–15 days. In cell culture supernatants, PUUV and TULV remained infectious for 5–11 days at room temperature…

Erratum: Temporal dynamics of Puumala hantavirus infection in cyclic populations of bank voles.

2016

Understanding the dynamics of zoonotic pathogens in their reservoir host populations is a prerequisite for predicting and preventing human disease epidemics. The human infection risk of Puumala hantavirus (PUUV) is highest in northern Europe, where populations of the rodent host (bank vole, Myodes glareolus) undergo cyclic fluctuations. We conducted a 7-year capture-mark-recapture study to monitor seasonal and multiannual patterns of the PUUV infection rate in bank vole populations exhibiting a 3-year density cycle. Infected bank voles were most abundant in mid-winter months during years of increasing or peak host density. Prevalence of PUUV infection in bank voles exhibited a regular, seas…