Epidemiology of Hantavirus Infections in the United States

摘要

This report describes studies carried out in Baltimore and Detroit toinvestigate: (1) the prevalence and incidence of hantaviral infections in different populations of urban residents; (2) acute or chronic diseases associated with positive serologies; (3) risk factors associated with rodent exposure, hantaviral infection or infection with other rodent-borne zoonoses; (4) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods for the amplification of the S segment of the hantaviral genome; (5) using PCR to define the occurrence of hantaviruses in rodent and human tissues collected in Baltimore and stored by various techniques; (6) using S segment PCR to identify and group hantavirus serotypes by their annual reservoir to aid in the diagnosis and epidemiological investigation of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS).