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

Enough serum for serologic testing was available from 180 bats (72 Rousettus aegyptiacus and 108 Eidolon helvum) and 95 rodents (33 Myodes glareolus, 30 Apodemus sylvaticus, 30 Rattus norvegicus, 2 Myocastor coypus). In initial tests using immunofluorescence slides containing full recombinant HCV, 13 bats (7.2%, 9 R. aegyptiacus and 4 E. helvum) showed reactivity patterns suggestive of antibodies cross-reacting with HCV. Figure 2A exemplifies typical IFA reaction patterns observed. For confirmation, recombinant HCV western blot (WB) assays certified for diagnostic application in humans were adapted for use with bat and rodent sera. For 95 of the 180 bat sera, enough serum volume for WB testing was available. This included three of the 13 IFA-positive sera. As shown in Table 1 , between seven (Core) to 28 (NS3/Helicase) sera were clearly reactive with different WB antigens. 10 sera (10.6%) were to be interpreted as antibody-positive upon criteria for the interpretation of western blot results applicable in human diagnostics. Figure 2B provides examples of typical reaction patterns. The three IFA-positive sera were also positive in WB. For rodents, Table 1 shows that two (Helicase and NS4) to six (NS5B) sera reacted with individual antigens. Another 45 sera showed borderline reactivities comparable to the intensity of the WB cutoff control (examples of reactivities in Figure 2C ). No rodent sera fulfilled the criteria for positive interpretation applicable in human diagnostics.