molecular and serological evaluation of hantavirus in wild rodents in kohgiluyeh and boyer-ahmad province, southwest of iran

Background: hantaviruses are mainly transmitted to humans through the inhalation of aerosolized excreta from infect­ed rodent reservoirs. the present study was conducted to analyze the prevalence of hantavirus infection among rodents in the boyer-ahmad region. methods: a total of 52 rodents were captured in the boyer-ahmad region of kohgiluyeh and boyer-ahmad province during june to november 2014, using sherman live traps. blood and tissue samples were obtained from the heart and lungs, respectively.  hantavirus pool 1 eurasia igg and pool 2 america elisa igg kits were used to detect igg antibodies against both old world and new world hantaviruses. moreover, total rna extraction was performed on the lung tissue, and a pan-hantavirus nested rt-pcr was conducted to detect hantavirus rna. results: meriones persicus was the most abundant species (n=25, 48%). the results of the elisa showed that all the serum samples from the rodents were negative for antibodies against both eurasian and american hantaviruses. moreo­ver, no rodent tissue samples tested positive for the hantavirus rna by the pan-hantavirus rt-pcr. conclusion: although no hantavirus infection was detected in this study, the presence of hantavirus reservoirs in koh­giluyeh and boyer-ahmad province suggests that hantavirus circulation cannot be completely ruled out. further studies with a larger sample size are recommended.