Failure to prove arenavirus infection among the small mammals from an endemic area of Korean hemorrhagic nephrosonephritis.

In the light of recent knowledge on a complex of diseases caused by a new group of viruses, arenaviruses, virological studies largely directed toward small field mammals were undertaken during 1973-1974 aiming at etiological clarification of Korean hemorrhagic nephrosonephritis (KHNN). Specimens were collected in an endemic area of KHNN located north to northeast of Seoul. Virus isolation tests with 299 urine specimens and 131 mite pools recovered from small mammals and 14 acute stage sera from typical cases yielded negative results. Complement-fixation (CF) tests failed to detect antibodies against the antigens of Congo, lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM), Tacaribe, and Pichinde viruses among 366 small mammal sera. In addition, CF tests of 59 of the above sera against Apoi and Lassa virus antigens were negative. The results do not support the likelihood of an arenavirus being transmitted among Korean small field mammals, the overwhelming majority of which were Apodemus agrarius. A hypothesis that KHNN is caused by a virus of small field mammal origin was not proved within the technical limit of relatively unsophisticated methods employed herein.