A SMALL-SCALE SURVEY OF HANTAVIRUS IN MAMMALS FROM INDIANA

In order to determine if hantaviruses were present in mice and other s mall mammals in Indiana (USA), small mammals were trapped in Brown, La Porte, Tippecanoe and Whitley counties. Sixty-seven small mammals were trapped during August and September 1994. Sixty-three Peromyscus leuc opus, one Microtus pennsylvanicus, one Zapus hudsonius and two Blarina brevicauda were captured and tested for hantaviruses. Six P. leucopus were found to have antibody to Sin Nombre virus (SN) by IgG ELISA, an d a 139 bp fragment of SN-like hantavirus was amplified from five of t hem. All six of the positive P. leucopus were from LaPorte County. No other small mammals had evidence of infection with SN virus. This stud y presents the first report of Sin Nombre-like hantavirus in P. leucop us from Indiana.