Catacamas virus is a single-stranded, enveloped novel

RNA virus An RNA virus is a virusother than a retrovirusthat has ribonucleic acid (RNA) as its genetic material. The nucleic acid is usually single-stranded RNA ( ssRNA) but it may be double-stranded (dsRNA). Notable human diseases caused by RNA viruses ...

in the genus ''

Orthohantavirus ''Orthohantavirus'' is a genus of single-stranded, enveloped, negative-sense RNA viruses in the family ''Hantaviridae'' within the order ''Bunyavirales''. Members of this genus may be called orthohantaviruses or simply hantaviruses. Orthohantavi ...

'' of the order ''

Bunyavirales ''Bunyavirales'' is an order of segmented negative-strand RNA viruses with mainly tripartite genomes. Member viruses infect arthropods, plants, protozoans, and vertebrates. It is the only order in the class ''Ellioviricetes''. The name ''Bunyavir ...

'' isolated in ''

Oryzomys couesi ''Oryzomys couesi'', also known as Coues's rice rat, is a semiaquatic rodent in the family Cricetidae occurring from southernmost Texas through Mexico and Central America into northwestern Colombia. It is usually found in wet habitats, such as m ...

'' near the town of

Catacamas Catacamas is a city, with a population of 59,990 (2020 calculation), and a municipality in the Olancho Department of Honduras. It is the largest municipality in Central America in terms of area. Overview Catacamas, called the ''Florida City ...

in eastern

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. It is a

member virus In biology, a strain is a genetic variant, a subtype or Axenic, a culture within a biological species. Strains are often seen as inherently artificial concepts, characterized by a specific intent for genetic isolation. This is most easily observed ...

of ''

Bayou orthohantavirus ''Bayou orthohantavirus'' (BAYV) is a species of ''Orthohantavirus'' first identified in 1993 in Louisiana. and later confirmed by other investigators. In 1996, the marsh rice rat was identified as the natural reservoir of the virus, indicating t ...

''.

Natural reservoir

Catacamas virus was isolated from ''Oryzomys couesi'' and none of 41 other rodents that were also trapped near the town of Catacamas. The finding represents the first time a hantavirus species has been found in Honduras.

Virology

Analysis of

nucleotide Nucleotides are organic molecules consisting of a nucleoside and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which are essential biomolecules wi ...

and

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

sequence data indicated that this hantaviral strain is phylogenetically most closely related to ''

'' which is associated with the marsh rice rat (''

Oryzomys palustris The marsh rice rat (''Oryzomys palustris'') is a semiaquatic North American rodent in the family Cricetidae. It usually occurs in wetland habitats, such as swamps and salt marshes. It is found mostly in the eastern and southern United States, fr ...

'') in the southeastern United States.Mary L. Milazzo, Maria N.B. Cajimat, Hannah E. Romo, Jose G. Estrada-Franco, L. Ignacio Iñiguez-Dávalos, Robert D. Bradley, and Charles F. Fulhorst. Geographic Distribution of Hantaviruses Associated with Neotomine and Sigmodontine Rodents, Mexico. Emerging Infectious Diseases. Volume 18, Number 4—April 2012. Research

References

External links

CDC's Hantavirus Technical Information Index page

Virus Pathogen Database and Analysis Resource (ViPR): Hantaviridae
{{Taxonbar, from=Q16975512 Viral diseases Hantaviridae Hemorrhagic fevers Infraspecific virus taxa

Natural reservoir

Virology

See also

References

External links