Disease relevance of Sin Nombre virus

• Serum samples from 22 hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) patients were tested for Sin Nombre virus (SNV)-reactive antibodies [1].
• The Unexplained Deaths and Critical Illnesses Project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Sin Nombre virus infection by the results of serological testing and sequencing of the viral genome; staining of Sin Nombre virus antigen in the pulmonary capillaries was relatively weak [2].
• Hemorrhage and renal involvement were common in our patients, features not often described in the North American literature of Sin Nombre virus HPS [3].
• The efficiency of prime-boost vaccinations on the induction of T-cell responses to Sin Nombre virus nucleocapsid protein expressed by recombinant vaccinia virus, replication-deficient adenovirus, and plasmid DNA in mice was quantitated by the number of epitope-specific interferon-gamma-producing T cells and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte activity induced [4].

High impact information on Sin Nombre virus

• HPS risk, predicted before rodent sampling, was highly associated with the abundance of Peromyscus maniculatus, the reservoir of Sin Nombre virus (SNV) [5].
• Two of 12 mice captured near the residences of a human patient were positive for Sin Nombre virus by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, yet were negative for viral RNA by polymerase chain reaction [6].
• A recombinant PCMV was constructed that contained Sin Nombre virus glycoprotein G1 (SNV-G1) fused in frame to the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) gene inserted into a site homologous to the human CMV UL33 (P33) gene [7].
• From 1996 through 1999, 35 deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) were captured in 25 urban and suburban homes in southwestern Montana. Mice were captured throughout the year except for January; seven mice (20%) from seven (28%) of the homes were seropositive for Sin Nombre virus [8].
• The serum of this patient failed to recognize a conserved, immunodominant epitope of the Four Corners virus G1 glycoprotein [9].

Gene context of Sin Nombre virus

• The etiologic agent, Puumala hantavirus is genetically closely related to Sin Nombre virus, which causes a frequently lethal febrile syndrome with pulmonary involvement (hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, HPS) [10].

References