Evidence for Novel Hepaciviruses in Rodents

Drexler, Jan Felix; Corman, Victor Max; Müller, Marcel Alexander; Lukashev, Alexander N.; Gmyl, Anatoly; Coutard, Bruno; Adam, Alexander; Ritz, Daniel; Leijten, Lonneke M.; van Riel, Debby; Kallies, Rene; Klose, Stefan M.; Gloza-Rausch, Florian; Binger, Tabea; Annan, Augustina; Adu-Sarkodie, Yaw; Oppong, Samuel; Bourgarel, Mathieu; Rupp, Daniel; Hoffmann, Bernd; Schlegel, Mathias; Kümmerer, Beate M.; Krüger, Detlev H.; Schmidt-Chanasit, Jonas; Setién, Alvaro Aguilar; Cottontail, Veronika M.; Hemachudha, Thiravat; Wacharapluesadee, Supaporn; Osterrieder, Klaus; Bartenschlager, Ralf; Matthee, Sonja; Beer, Martin; Kuiken, Thijs; Reusken, Chantal; Leroy, Eric M.; Ulrich, Rainer G.; Drosten, Christian

Specimens from 8,777 individual animals from the orders Chiroptera, Rodentia, Carnivora and Perissodactyla were included in this study. The geographical origins of samples are summarized in Figure 1AB . The sample contained sera and liver tissue from 4,770 rodents (Rodentia, 41 species), sera from 2,939 bats (Chiroptera, 51 species), sera from 210 horses (Perissodactyla) and sera from 167 dogs (Carnivora). Due to the reported respiratory tropism of canine hepaciviruses, snout swabs were additionally obtained from 239 dogs and 452 cats. The detailed composition of the sample is listed in Supplementary Table 1.