Hantaviruses (family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavi- rus) are rodent-borne zoonotic viruses that produce two major clinical syndromes in humans: haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Asia and Europe and hantavi-

Hantaviruses (family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus) are rodent-borne zoonotic viruses that produce two major clinical syndromes in humans: haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Asia and Europe and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the Americas. Since HPS was initially characterised in the United States of America (USA) in 1993 and since the associated hantavirus Sin Nombre virus (SNV) was identified, increasing numbers of human cases and SNV-related viruses have been identified in different countries of North and South America (Puerta et al. 2006). All hantaviruses that cause HPS are hosted by rodents of the family Muridae, subfamily Sigmodontinae (New World rats and mice). Since the original characterisation of SNV in 1993, approximately 25 hantavirus genotypes from the Americas have been described; each is associated with a different rodent species or subspecies (Levis et al. 1998, Padula et al. 2000). Hantaviruses have been documented in South America in Argentina (Levis et al. 1998), Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia (Padula et al. 2000), Brazil (Moreli et al. 2004) and Venezuela (Fulhorst et al. 1997, Rivas et al. 2003) and in Central America in Panama (Vincent et al. 2000). Although reported in two bordering countries, human cases of hantavirus infection have not been documented in Colombia. Maciel virus (MACV) and Araraquara virus (ARAV), which were isolated and characterised in Argentina and Brazil, respectively, are two autochthonous South American hantaviruses that have been used to produce ELISAs (Levis et al. 1998, Figueiredo et al. 2009). Although these assays have been used independently, no study has compared their relative levels of sensitivity using the same samples, especially in areas outside of Argentina and Brazil. These assays are likely to vary in sensitivity (Figueiredo et al. 2009), however, because MACV and ARAV are closely related phylogenetically, share at least 85% identity in the S segment, which encodes the N protein (Raboni et al. 2005), and share the same reservoir host (Calderón et al. 1999, Suzuki et al. 2004, D’Elía et al. 2008), we expected that their sensitivities would be similar. In addition, previous studies on hantavirus antibody prevalence in the Caribbean region of Colombia have used SNV antigen and it may be expected that tests using South American antigens would have greater sensitivity and specificity. Our objective was to determine the prevalence of hantavirus antibodies in humans and rodents in the department of Córdoba, northeastern Colombia, using anFinancial support: UCO, Colombia + Corresponding author: [email protected] Received 16 May 2012 Accepted 14 September 2012 Prevalence of antibody to hantaviruses in humans and rodents in the Caribbean region of Colombia determined using Araraquara and Maciel virus antigens