Detection of Puumala and Hantaan Viruses among Bats in Korea by Nested RT-PCR

Hantavirus is a genus of the Bunyaviridae family consisting following serotype groups: Hantaan, Seoul, Puumala, Prospect Hill, Thailand, Belgrade, Thotta palayam, Sin Nombre. Most of Hantavirus group have been associated with many clinically similar disease known collectively as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). Hantaan virus is the prototype of the genus hantavirus, originally isolated from Apodemus agrarius. Bat was found as a natural host for Hantaan virus in Lee's lab for the first time. Then, Hantaan-like virus was isolated Hantaan-like virus from bat. To identify hantaviruses that are present in Korea among bats, bats were collected from Jeong-Sun, Won-Joo, Chung-Ju and Hwa-Cheon area, RNA was isolated from lung and serum. RT-PCR was performed with a universal primer from M segment. Nested RT-PCR was carried out to differentiate Hantaan, Seoul and Puumala virus using serotype specific primers. As we expected, Hantaan viruses were detected in bats and Seoul virus was not detected. Interestingly, Puumala viruses were also detected in bats from Won-Ju, but not in other areas. Puumala virus is originally isolated from Clethrinomys glareolus, and cause light HFRS. Recently, Paradoxomis webbiana, a wild bird turn out to be a reservoir for Puumala virus in Korea. These data indicate that bat is a new natural reservoir of Puumala virus.