Wild Rats, Laboratory Rats, Pet Rats: Global Seoul Hantavirus Disease Revisited.



Clement, Jan, LeDuc, James W, Lloyd, Graham, Reynes, Jean-Marc ORCID: 0000-0002-3712-941X, McElhinney, Lorraine ORCID: 0000-0002-6022-348X, Van Ranst, Marc ORCID: 0000-0002-1674-4157 and Lee, Ho-Wang
(2019) Wild Rats, Laboratory Rats, Pet Rats: Global Seoul Hantavirus Disease Revisited. Viruses, 11 (7). E652-.

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Abstract

Recent reports from Europe and the USA described Seoul orthohantavirus infection in pet rats and their breeders/owners, suggesting the potential emergence of a "new" public health problem. Wild and laboratory rat-induced Seoul infections have, however, been described since the early eighties, due to the omnipresence of the rodent reservoir, the brown rat <i>Rattus norvegicus</i>. Recent studies showed no fundamental differences between the pathogenicity and phylogeny of pet rat-induced Seoul orthohantaviruses and their formerly described wild or laboratory rat counterparts. The paucity of diagnosed Seoul virus-induced disease in the West is in striking contrast to the thousands of cases recorded since the 1980s in the Far East, particularly in China. This review of four continents (Asia, Europe, America, and Africa) puts this "emerging infection" into a historical perspective, concluding there is an urgent need for greater medical awareness of Seoul virus-induced human pathology in many parts of the world Given the mostly milder and atypical clinical presentation, sometimes even with preserved normal kidney function, the importance of simple but repeated urine examination is stressed, since initial but transient proteinuria and microhematuria are rarely lacking.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Animals, Animals, Laboratory, Animals, Wild, Rats, Seoul virus, Communicable Diseases, Emerging, Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome, Pets, Geography, Medical, Global Health
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 03 Oct 2019 09:24
Last Modified: 30 Jan 2024 08:35
DOI: 10.3390/v11070652
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/v11070652
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3056862