Epidemiological study on viral zoonotic diseases originating from wild rodents in Japan

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To know the epidemiology of viral zoonotic diseases such as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in Japan, we conducted an epizootiological survey in various points of Japan. Anti-hantavirus antibodies were detected in Apodemus. speciosus (5/482), and Clethnonomys rufocanus (7/197), Rattus norvegicus (4/364), and Rattus rattus (3/45) by Indirect fluorescent antibody assay (IFA). The positive sera from A.speciosus neutralized Hantaan virus at 1:20 but did not neutralize Seoul virus. This indicate that hantavirus carried by A.speciosus is closer to Hantaan virus than Seoul virus. The partial S gene was amplified from seropositive R.rattus and sequenced. The virus sequence had 96% identitiy with SR-11 which is Seoul virus prototype strain. These results suggest that main reservoir animals of hantavirus in Japan are A.speciosus, C. rufocanus, R.norvegicus, and R rattus.The rodent sera were applied to the newly established ELISA by using recombinant E protein of TBE virus to detected anti-TBE virus antibodies. The ELISA could detect anti-TBE antibodies in sera positive by neutralization test. However, no antibodies were detected in rodent sera from Toyama prefecture, in which TBE infections has not confirmed. These results suggest that the ELISA can be a useful method to identify the endemic areas of TBE in Japan.