Choclo virus (CHOV) is a single-stranded, negative-sense RNA

zoonotic A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a virus, bacterium, parasite, fungi, or prion) that can jump from a non-human vertebrate to a human. When h ...

New World

hantavirus ''Orthohantavirus'' is a genus of viruses that includes all hantaviruses (family ''Hantaviridae'') that cause disease in humans. Orthohantaviruses, hereafter referred to as hantaviruses, are naturally found primarily in rodents. In general, each ...

. It was first isolated in 1999 in western

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. The finding marked the first time

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), also called hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), is a severe respiratory disease caused by hantaviruses. The main features of illness are microvascular leakage and acute respiratory distress syndrome. S ...

(HPS) was found in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

. During this outbreak, a high

seroprevalence Seroprevalence is the number of persons in a population who test positive for a specific disease based on serology (blood serum) specimens, often presented as a percent of the total specimens tested or as a proportion per 100,000 persons tested. As ...

was found among the general population, suggesting that this virus has an extremely low pathogenicity and causes sub-clinical to mild symptoms. This was confirmed in a study that infected

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera. They have become established as popular small pets. The best-known species of hamster is the golden or Syrian ...

s with CHOV. All of the hamsters tested positive for CHOV, but none exhibited any symptoms.

Discovery

The virus was first isolated in 2000 from the

spleen The spleen (, from Ancient Greek '' σπλήν'', splḗn) is an organ (biology), organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The spleen plays important roles in reg ...

of a northern pygmy rice rat captured in

Las Tablas, Los Santos Las Tablas () is the capital of the Panamanian province of Los Santos Province, Los Santos, with a population of 9,255 as of 2010. It is located a few kilometres inland from the Gulf of Panama on the Azuero Peninsula. Las Tablas is a recognised na ...

in the

Los Santos Province Los Santos () is a province in Panama, reaching from the La Villa river in the North to the Pacific Ocean in the south and east. It is part of the Azuero Peninsula, bounded by the Herrera Province, province of Herrera to the north and northeast, ...

in western Panama and is named after the El Choclo cantina near the city.

Transmission

Choclo virus has not been shown to transfer from person-to-person. Transmission by aerosolized rodent excreta still remains the only known way the virus is transmitted to humans. In general, droplet and/or

fomite A fomite () or fomes () is any inanimate object that, when contaminated with or exposed to infectious agents (such as pathogenic bacteria, viruses or fungi), can transfer disease to a new host. Transfer of pathogens by fomites A fomite is any ...

transfer has not been shown in the hantaviruses in general, in either the hemorrhagic or pulmonary forms.

Epidemiology

There were a total of eleven cases reported but only nine serologically confirmed cases of Choclo virus found in this outbreak. A serologic survey of residents in the area revealed a 13%

antibody An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as pathogenic bacteria, bacteria and viruses, includin ...

prevalence. No person-to-person transmissions were found. There were no fatalities among serologically confirmed cases. The three fatalities could not be tested for the virus due to the absence of samples available. Before this outbreak, there were no documented cases of human hantavirus infections in Central America.

References

External links

CDC's Hantavirus Technical Information Index page

Virus Pathogen Database and Analysis Resource (ViPR): Hantaviridae
{{Taxonbar, from=Q29002488, from2=Q16975673 Viral diseases Hantaviridae Rodent-carried diseases

Discovery

Transmission

Epidemiology

See also

References

External links