HANTAVIRUS-S RNA SEQUENCE FROM A FATAL CASE OF HPS IN NEW-YORK

In April, 1995, the second fatal case of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) occurred in the northeast in a New York State resident. Using t he patient's lung tissue obtained at autopsy, the S genomic RNA segmen t of a hantavirus, designated H-NY1, was amplified by reverse transcri ptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), cloned, and sequenced. The S RNA was found to contain 2084 nucleotides, 6 nucleotides longer than reported by Hjelle at al. (1995) for the virus associated with the fir st northeastern case (RI-1). There were 101 nucleotide differences in the S RNA between the H-NY1 and RI-1,which result in the prediction of a single amino-acid change in the nucleocapsid (N) protein. Rodents w ere trapped for serologic and virologic studies at the patient's resid ence and work site. The whitefooted mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) was th e most frequently captured species and more than 50% of those trapped near the patient's residence showed serologic evidence of hantavirus i nfection. Using RT-PCR it was possible to amplify hantavirus S RNA seq uence from the Iu ng tissues of 8 out of 11 seropositive animals. No d ifference in nucleotide sequence was found between the HPS patient seq uence and the P. leucopus sequence (nucleotides 189 to 599). These dat a are consistent with those of Hjelle et al. (1995) in suggesting that P. leucopus is the primary rodent vector for the etiologic agent of H PS in the northeastern United States. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.