PARENT SESSION

Natural History 1 -- Session Chair: Patrick Zollner-- Nelson Hall East, Goodwin Forum

SEROSURVEY OF WILD RODENTS FOR HANTAVIRUSES IN PANAMA, 2000 — 2003. Blas Armién¹, Jorge Salazar—Bravo², Anibal Armién^1,4, Gerardo Suzán³, Luis A. Ruedas⁵, Juan M. Pascale¹, Fernando Gracia⁶ and Terry L. Yates⁷. ¹ Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios en Salud, Rep. de Panamá; ² Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA; ⁴ Medical School, Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota, Minnesota, USA; ³ Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico, New Mexico, USA; ⁵ Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA; ⁶ Ministry of Health, Ancon, Rep. of Panama; ⁷ Vice-Provost for Research, University of New Mexico, New Mexico, USA.

ABSTRACT- Over 3500 samples representing 28 species of small mammals (2 species of marsupials and 26 of rodents) were collected in Panamá between February 2000 and December 2003. The samples were examined for antibodies to hantaviruses by means of ELISA or Immunoblot assays. The serologic results indicated that several rodent species may act as hantaviral reservoirs in Panamá: Costa Rican pygmy rice rat (Oligoryzomys fulvescens costaricensis, 6%); Cherrie's cane rat (Zygodontomys brevicauda cherriei, 5%); Mexican deer mouse (Peromyscus mexicanus (4.5%); Mexican harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys mexicanus,14.3%); Chiriquí harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys creper, 50%); and Sumichrast's harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys sumichrasti, 75%). Hantavirus infection in Peromyscus mexicanus and the three species of Reithrodontomys is due to Rio Segundo hantavirus, a species of virus recently reported from Panamá. Therefore, at least three hantaviruses, are known to infect populations of wild rodents in the country. None-the-less, given the total number of animals tested the role of these rodent species in the epidemiology and epizootiology of hantavirus infections remains unclear.

KEY WORDS: rodents, hantavirus