Robovirus

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A robovirus is a zoonotic virus that is transmitted by a rodent vector (i.e., rodent borne). [1] [2]

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Roboviruses mainly belong to the virus families Arenaviridae and Hantaviridae. [3] [4] Like arbovirus (arthropod borne) and tibovirus (tick borne) the name refers to its method of transmission, known as its vector. This is distinguished from a clade, which groups around a common ancestor. Some scientists now refer to arbovirus and robovirus together with the term ArboRobo-virus. [5]

Methods of transmission

Rodent borne disease can be transmitted through different forms of contact such as rodent bites, scratches, urine, saliva, etc. [6] Potential sites of contact with rodents include habitats such as barns, outbuildings, sheds, and dense urban areas. Transmission of disease through rodents can be spread to humans through direct handling and contact, or indirectly through rodents carrying the disease spread to ticks, mites, fleas (arboborne).[ citation needed ]

Viral diseases transmitted by rodents

One example of a robovirus is hantavirus, which causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Humans can be infected with Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome through direct contact with rodent droppings, saliva, or urine infected with strains of the virus. These components mix into the air and get transmitted when inhaled through airborne transmission. [7]

Lassa virus from the Arenaviridae family causes Lassa hemorrhagic fever and is also a robovirus transmitted by the rodent genus Mastomys natalensis . [8] [9] The multimammate rat is able to excrete the virus in its urine and droppings. These rat are often found in the savannas and forests of Africa. When these rats scavenge and enter households this provides an outlet for direct contact transmission with humans. It has also been found that airborne transmission can occur by engaging in cleaning activities such as sweeping. In some areas of Africa, the Mastomys rodent is caught and used as a source of food. This process can also lead to transmission and infection. [10]

Viral diseases indirectly transmitted by rats

Colorado tick fever virus causes high fevers, chills, headache, fatigue and sometimes vomiting, skin rash, and abdominal pain. The virus is caused by a Rocky Mountain wood tick ( Dermacentor andersoni ). It is an arbovirus, but rodents serve as the reservoir. The tick is carried by five species of rodents: the least chipmunk (Eutamias minimus), Richardson's ground squirrel (Urocitellus richardsonii), deer mice ( Peromyscus maniculatus ), the golden-mantled ground squirrel (Callospermophilus lateraliss), and the Uinta chipmunk (Neotamias umbrinus). [11] The infected tick will be carried by its rodent host and infect another host (animal or human) as it feeds. [12]

Factors affecting roboviruses

Rodent populations are affected by a number of diverse factors, including climatic conditions. Warmer winters and increased rainfall will make it more likely for rodent populations to survive, therefore increasing the number of rodent reservoirs for disease. Increased rainfall accompanied by flooding can also increase human to rodent contact [13] Global climate change will affect the distribution and prevalence of roboviruses. Inadequate hygiene and sanitation, as seen in some European countries, also contribute to increase rodent populations and higher risks of rodent borne disease transmission. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lassa fever</span> Viral disease spread by a type of mouse

Lassa fever, also known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever (LHF), is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. Many of those infected by the virus do not develop symptoms. When symptoms occur they typically include fever, weakness, headaches, vomiting, and muscle pains. Less commonly there may be bleeding from the mouth or gastrointestinal tract. The risk of death once infected is about one percent and frequently occurs within two weeks of the onset of symptoms. Of those who survive, about a quarter have hearing loss, which improves within three months in about half of these cases.

<i>Orthohantavirus</i> Genus of viruses

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arbovirus</span> Common name for several species of virus

Arbovirus is an informal name for any virus that is transmitted by arthropod vectors. The term arbovirus is a portmanteau word. Tibovirus is sometimes used to more specifically describe viruses transmitted by ticks, a superorder within the arthropods. Arboviruses can affect both animals and plants. In humans, symptoms of arbovirus infection generally occur 3–15 days after exposure to the virus and last three or four days. The most common clinical features of infection are fever, headache, and malaise, but encephalitis and viral hemorrhagic fever may also occur.

Tick-borne diseases, which afflict humans and other animals, are caused by infectious agents transmitted by tick bites. They are caused by infection with a variety of pathogens, including rickettsia and other types of bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. The economic impact of tick-borne diseases is considered to be substantial in humans, and tick-borne diseases are estimated to affect ~80 % of cattle worldwide.

<i>Bunyavirales</i> Order of RNA viruses

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 Bunyavirales derives from Bunyamwera, where the original type species Bunyamwera orthobunyavirus was first discovered. Ellioviricetes is named in honor of late virologist Richard M. Elliott for his early work on bunyaviruses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural reservoir</span> Type of population in infectious disease ecology

In infectious disease ecology and epidemiology, a natural reservoir, also known as a disease reservoir or a reservoir of infection, is the population of organisms or the specific environment in which an infectious pathogen naturally lives and reproduces, or upon which the pathogen primarily depends for its survival. A reservoir is usually a living host of a certain species, such as an animal or a plant, inside of which a pathogen survives, often without causing disease for the reservoir itself. By some definitions a reservoir may also be an environment external to an organism, such as a volume of contaminated air or water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arenavirus</span> Family of RNA viruses

An arenavirus is a bi- or trisegmented ambisense RNA virus that is a member of the family Arenaviridae. These viruses infect rodents and occasionally humans. A class of novel, highly divergent arenaviruses, properly known as reptarenaviruses, have also been discovered which infect snakes to produce inclusion body disease. At least eight arenaviruses are known to cause human disease. The diseases derived from arenaviruses range in severity. Aseptic meningitis, a severe human disease that causes inflammation covering the brain and spinal cord, can arise from the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. Hemorrhagic fever syndromes, including Lassa fever, are derived from infections such as Guanarito virus, Junin virus, Lassa virus, Lujo virus, Machupo virus, Sabia virus, or Whitewater Arroyo virus. Because of the epidemiological association with rodents, some arenaviruses and bunyaviruses are designated as roboviruses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viral hemorrhagic fever</span> Type of illnesses

Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are a diverse group of animal and human illnesses in which fever and hemorrhage are caused by a viral infection. VHFs may be caused by five distinct families of RNA viruses: the families Filoviridae, Flaviviridae, Rhabdoviridae, and several member families of the Bunyavirales order such as Arenaviridae, and Hantaviridae. All types of VHF are characterized by fever and bleeding disorders and all can progress to high fever, shock and death in many cases. Some of the VHF agents cause relatively mild illnesses, such as the Scandinavian nephropathia epidemica, while others, such as Ebola virus, can cause severe, life-threatening disease.

Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever (VHF) is a zoonotic human illness first identified in 1989. The disease is most prevalent in several rural areas of central Venezuela and is caused by Guanarito mammarenavirus (GTOV) which belongs to the Arenaviridae family. The short-tailed cane mouse is the main host for GTOV which is spread mostly by inhalation of aerosolized droplets of saliva, respiratory secretions, urine, or blood from infected rodents. Person-to-person spread is possible, but uncommon.

Seoul orthohantavirus (SEOV) is a member of the Orthohantavirus family of rodent-borne viruses and is one of the 4 hantaviruses that are known to be able to cause Hantavirus hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). It is an Old World hantavirus; a negative sense, single-stranded, tri-segmented RNA virus.

<i>Andes orthohantavirus</i> Species of virus

Andes orthohantavirus (ANDV), a species of Orthohantavirus, is a major causative agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in South America. It is named for the Andes mountains of Chile and Argentina, where it was first discovered. Originating in the reservoir of rodents, Andes orthohantavirus is easily transmitted to humans who come into contact with infected rodents or their fecal droppings. However, infected rodents do not appear ill, so there is no readily apparent indicator to determine whether the rodent is infected or not. Additionally, Andes orthohantavirus, specifically, is the only hantavirus that can be spread by human to human contact via bodily fluids or long-term contact from one infected individual to a healthy person.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disease vector</span> Agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism

In epidemiology, a disease vector is any living agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen to another living organism; agents regarded as vectors are organisms, such as parasites or microbes. The first major discovery of a disease vector came from Ronald Ross in 1897, who discovered the malaria pathogen when he dissected a mosquito.

Powassan encephalitis, caused by the Powassan virus (POWV), a flavivirus also known as the deer tick virus, is a form of arbovirus infection that results from tick bites. It can occur as a co-infection with Lyme disease since both are transmitted to humans by the same species of tick. There has been a surge in the number of cases and geographic range in the last decade. In the United States, cases have been recorded in the northeast. The disease was first isolated from the brain of a boy who died of encephalitis in Powassan, Ontario, in 1958. The disease is a zoonosis, an animal disease, usually found in rodents and ticks, with spillover transmission to humans. The virus is antigenically related to the Far Eastern tick-borne encephalitis viruses.

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Lujo is a bisegmented RNA virus—a member of the family Arenaviridae—and a known cause of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) in humans. Its name was suggested by the Special Pathogens Unit of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service (NICD-NHLS) by using the first two letters of the names of the cities involved in the 2008 outbreak of the disease, Lusaka (Zambia) and Johannesburg. It is the second pathogenic Arenavirus to be described from the African continent—the first being Lassa virus—and since 2012 has been classed as a "Select Agent" under U.S. law.

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Whitewater Arroyo mammarenavirus (WWAV) is a zoonotic Arenavirus associated with hemorrhagic fever with liver failure.

Morogoro virus is an East African arenavirus infecting the multimammate mouse. The virus is genetically closely related to Lassa virus, known to cause Lassa fever in humans. Morogoro virus, however, does not seem to infect humans. Transmission of Morogoro virus between mice is assumed to occur via direct and indirect contact. Infected animals pass a latent period of 7 days and subsequently shed the virus for about 30 days, after which they recover and develop lifelong antibodies. Transmission may also be possible from infected mothers to offspring and through sexual contact, as this has been suggested for other arenaviruses.

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References

  1. ↑ Spicer, W. John (2008). Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. p. 117. ISBN   978-0-443-10303-2.
  2. ↑ Sandra I Kim; Swanson, Todd; Flomin, Olga E. (2008). Microbiology. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Heath. p. 88. ISBN   978-0-7817-6470-4.
  3. ↑ Briese, Thomas et al. (2016) Create a new order, Bunyavirales, to accommodate nine families (eight new, one renamed) comprising thirteen genera. ICTV 11th report
  4. ↑ Hjelle, Brian; Torres-Perez, Fernando (2009). "Ch. 34. Rodent-Borne Viruses". In Steven Specter; Richard L. Hodinka; Stephen A. Young; Danny L. Wiedbrauk (eds.). Clinical Virology Manual (4th ed.). American Society for Microbiology. pp. 641–657. doi:10.1128/9781555815974.ch34. ISBN   9781555815974.
  5. ↑ Kurolt; Ivan-Christian; et al. (14 November 2014). Molecular epidemiology of human pathogenic "ArboRobo-viruses" in Croatia (PDF). CroViWo-1st Croatian Virus Workshop. Rijeka. pp. 15–16. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  6. ↑ "Rodents", U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, and Division of High- Consequence Pathogens and Pathology.
  7. ↑ "Transmission | Hantavirus". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 29 August 2012.
  8. ↑ Lecompte, Emilie; Fichet-Calvet, Elisabeth; Daffis, Stephane; Koulemou, Kekoura; Sylla, Oumar; Kourouma, Fode; Dore, Amadou; Soropogui, Barre; Aniskin, Vladimir; Allali, Bernard; Kouassi Ka, Stephane; Lalis, Aude; Koivogui, Lamine; Gunthe, Stephan; Denys, Christiane; ter Meulen, January (2006). "Mastomys natalensis and Lassa Fever, West Africa". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 12 (12): 1971–1974. doi: 10.3201/eid1212.060812 . PMC   3291371 . PMID   17326956.
  9. ↑ McCormick, Joseph B.; King, Isabel J.; Webb, Patricia A.; Scribner, Curtis L.; Craven, Robert B.; Johnson, Karl M.; Elliott, Luanne H.; Belmont-Williams, Rose (2 January 1986). "Lassa Fever". New England Journal of Medicine. 314 (1): 20–26. doi:10.1056/nejm198601023140104. PMID   3940312.
  10. ↑ "Transmission of Lassa fever". Centers for Disease control and Prevention. 6 March 2019.
  11. ↑ Bowen, G. S.; Kirk, L. J.; Shriner, R. B.; McLean, R. G.; Pokorny, K. S. (1980). "Experimental Colorado Tick Fever virus Infection in Colorado Mammals". The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 30 (1): 224–229. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.1981.30.224. PMID   6259958.
  12. ↑ Colorado Tick fever - "Transmission", U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  13. ↑ Charron, Dominique F., Fleury, Manon, Lindsay, Leslie Robbin, Ogden, Nicholas and Schuster-Wallace, Corinne J. (2008) "The Impacts of Climate Change on Water-, Food-, Vector- and Rodent-Borne Diseases" in Human Health in a Changing Climate. ed. Séguin, Jacinthe. Health Canada, Ch. 5, p. 188
  14. ↑ "Rodent-borne diseases" (website). European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
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