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Patterns of Sin Nombre Virus RNA Prevalence and Seroconversion in Montana Deer Mice: A Continuation Abstract Hantaviruses (genus Hantavirus, family Bunyaviridae) are rodent borne pathogens that produce chronic infections in their reservoir hosts. In the United States, hantaviruses cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in humans. Sin Nombre Virus (SNV), whose principal reservoir is the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), is the cause of most of these HPS cases. The presence of antibody to SNV in deer mouse blood samples is used as an indicator of infection in most deer mouse-SNV studies. It has been assumed that animals with antibodies are chronically infected and can potentially shed virus in their urine and feces for the remainder of their lives. If this is true, then by knowing population densities and antibody prevalence one can potentially predict human risk of exposure to SNV. The presence of antibodies however, may not be a good predictor of virus shedding. A better predictor may be the presence of SNV RNA in the blood. SNV RNA does not equal infectibility but it may indicate the potential for the production of infectious virus in a given tissue. If the presence of SNV RNA does indicate production of infectious virus, then data on factors associated with the presence of virus in the blood will help refine predictions of human risk. Dr. Amy Kuenzi is my mentor for this study. The objective of this study is to: examine SNV RNA prevalence in seropostive deer mice from a population of deer mice in west-central Montana, determine what proportions of deer mice with antibody to SNV also have SNV RNA in their blood, and to examine the temporal relationship of seroconversions and SNV RNA circulation. My hypotheses are the following: Not all mice that are seropositive will contain SNV RNA in their blood, there will be seasonal patterns to the presence of SNV RNA in the blood of Montana deer mice possibly related to the start of the breeding season, and timing of serconversions (antibody negative individuals become antibody positive) will be correlated with to periods with high percentages of mice having SNV RNA in their blood. This is my second year of work on this project. The data collected during the 2005-2006 academic year resulted in 26.2% of seropositive blood samples also containing SNV-RNA. The data also indicated some seasonal pattern to seroconversion. However, more data was needed to show strong results. Therefore, I have and will collect more data throughout this 2006-2007 academic year. In April 2007 I will be presenting data obtained from both years.
Biography
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