Publications by authors named "Apekina N"

As a result of a longitudinal study of the Puumala hantavirus (PUUV) in the experimentally infected bank voles (Myodes glareolus), we revealed three groups of the voles differing in the immunoreactivity and viral antigen concentration in the organs. The close correlation between these parameters suggested the existence of various mechanisms of the hantavirus persistence in the host.

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The findings suggest that there are natural foci of hantavirus infection in the Tambov Region. There is evidence that Dobrava/Belgrade hantavirus (DOB-Aa) was a leading etiological agent in the outbreak of the disease in the winter of 2006-2007. Epidemiological analysis showed that the outbreak of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) afflicted the region during November to April, by reaching its peak in January (52.

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The specific features of hantavirus infection in naturally infected bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus), the principal host of hantavirus of the serotype Puumala, were studied during long-term observation of individually marked animals in the active focus of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in the south of Udmurtia. The infection time in the bank voles was defined by paired serum seroconversion tests. In the natural focus, hantavirus was shown to cause asymptomatic persistent infection in the bank voles with the body's peak accumulation of the virus and its environmental discharge within the first month of infection.

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The frequency of chromosome damage was studied in the carriers of virus of the hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (Puumala virus) and in noninfected animals from two laboratory colonies and two natural populations of bank vole. In the laboratory colony, where Puumala virus persisted for three years, multiaberrant ("rogue") cells were found in the bone marrow; the mean frequencies of both structural and numeral chromosome abnormalities were significantly enhanced. In the other laboratory colony, no Puumala virus was detected during all 30 years of its existence, but the mean frequencies of structural chromosome damage were increased to the same degree probably due to the prolonged breeding under laboratory conditions, which resulted in suppression of immunity and DNA repair.

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Specific features of hantavirus infection in bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) were studied in the endemic area of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in the foothills of the Ural mountains, using long-term observations on living animals by the capture-mark-recapture (CMR) method. The results demonstrated that the infection naturally circulating in the voles is chronic (lasting for up to 15 months) and asymptomatic, with a peak of Puumala virus accumulation and release from the organism during the first month after infection. It was shown that the bank vole population includes young animals with maternal immunity, which remain resistant to the Puumala virus infection for 3-3.

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Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction cloning and sequencing were used to determine the range of S gene/N protein variability in wild Puumala virus (PUU) strains and to study phylogenetic relationships between two groups of strains which originated from Finland and from European Russia. Analyses of the nucleotide and predicted amino acid sequences showed: (1) all PUU strains shared a common ancient ancestor; and (2) the more recent ancestors were different for the Finnish branch and the Russian branch of PUU strains. A cluster of amino acid substitutions in the N protein of Finnish strains was found; this cluster was located within a highly variable region of the molecule carrying B-cell epitopes (Vapalahti et al.

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A novel hantavirus has been discovered in European common voles, Microtus arvalis and Microtus rossiaemeridionalis. According to sequencing data for the genomic RNA S segment and nucleocapsid protein and data obtained by immunoblotting with a panel of monoclonal antibodies, the virus, designated Tula virus, is a distinct novel member of the genus Hantavirus. Phylogenetic analyses of Tula virus indicate that it is most closely related to Prospect Hill, Puumala, and Muerto Canyon viruses.

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An experimental scheme was developed for direct sequence analysis of Puumala virus-containing specimens from wild rodents (Clethrionomys glareolus). Total RNA isolated from rodent lung tissues was reverse-transcribed in the presence of a universal 11 nucleotide primer complementary to all three viral RNA segments followed by amplification in a PCR with gene-specific primers. A full-length PCR product of approximately 1800 bp from the S segment encoding the viral nucleoprotein and a product of approximately 900 bp from the M segment (encoding the C-terminal two-thirds of the G2 protein and including the 3' non-coding region) of Puumala virus (from C.

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An immunoglobulin G avidity assay was used to determine recent and past hantavirus infection in bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus). Sera of experimentally infected bank voles were studied at different time intervals. The avidity of specific IgG increased over time after infection.

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Lungs of 3159 animals of the forest complex from 90 areas of 30 administrative districts of Tyumen Province were examined by enzyme immunoassays for antigen of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) during 5 years, 1985-1989. The antigen of HERS virus was detected in the lungs of mammals of 8 species: Clethrionomys glareolus and Cl. rutilus, Siberian and Arctic lemmings (first findings in the world), M.

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To carry out serodiagnosis and to determine the serotype of the virus causing hemorrhagic fever with the renal syndrome (HFRS), paired sera obtained from 28 HFRS patients, 42 persons with a history of HFRS (1-17 years after convalescence), and 268 serum samples from healthy persons residing at the areas with the natural foci of this infection have been studied by indirect immunofluorescence techniques at the territory of the Amur Province. This study has demonstrated for the first time that, alongside the diseases caused by HFRS virus of serotype Apodemus, HFRS viruses of serotype Rattus and an unidentified serotype serve as the source of infection for the population of the Amur region. The leading role of serotype Rattus in HFRS has been confirmed by the detection of antibodies mainly to this serotype in serum samples taken from convalescents after HFRS and from the healthy population of the areas with the foci of HFRS virus infection.

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Examination by the enzyme-immunoassay of organs of 10 small mammal species trapped in different landscape zones of the Estonian SSR revealed the presence of HFRS virus antigen in organs of bank voles and field mice. Radioimmunoassay studies of serum specimens from donors demonstrated the presence of antibody to HFRS virus in 2.54% of those examined.

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The use of indirect fluorescent antibody testing (IFAT) and enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) procedures allowed the hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) virus antigen to be detected not only in the known reservoir host, Clethrionomys glareolus, but also in 7 other species of small mammals in European foci of the U.S.S.

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An indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) and an enzyme-immunological test (ELISA) were used for the detection of HFRS virus in organs of rodents from HFRS foci in the USSR. The virus was found in 115 out of 1120 bank voles, 9 out of 92 redbacked voles, and 2 field voles examined. Spontaneous infection-rate of bank voles in population varied from 1.

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The antigen of HFRS virus was demonstrated by means of the indirect fluorescent antibody procedure in the lung tissue of bank and redbacked voles (Clethrionomys glareolus, Cl. rutilus) trapped in HFRS foci in the European part of USSR. This antigen has been used satisfactorily for serodiagnosis of HFRS in several European and Asian regions of the USSR where HFRS had been found to be endemic.

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