Bunyaviridae infections and their diagnostics: Hantavirus, nairovirus, orthobunyavirus, and phlebovirus genera
Antti Vaheri and Olli Vapalahti
from: Bunyaviridae: Molecular and Cellular Biology (Edited by: Alexander Plyusnin and Richard M. Elliott). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2011)
Abstract
The large family of Bunyaviridae, comprising more than 300 viruses, includes four genera which have important human and animal pathogens, many of which are of global public health importance. Hantaviruses are carried by rodents and insectivores, nairoviruses by ticks, orthobunyaviruses by mosquitoes, and phleboviruses by phlebotomous flies. In humans hanta- and nairo-viruses cause hemorrhagic fevers, hantaviruses also renal and cardiopulmonary syndromes, and orthobunya- and phlebo-viruses affect primarily the central nervous system. Several members of Bunyaviridae such as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and Rift Valley fever viruses are important pathogens to domestic animals (cattle, sheep). In the following we review the current methods of choice to detect bunyaviruses in the carrier animals (rodents, insectivores, arthropods) and to diagnose bunyavirus infections in humans and animals, mainly serology to assay specific IgM and IgG antibodies and RT-PCR to detect viral RNA. The viruses within each genus show antigenic cross-reactions, reflecting their phylogeny, and therefore for virus typing neutralization tests or sequencing are often required read more ...
