[Spatial difference in the incidence of Argentine Hemorrhagic Fever and composition and abundance of rodents in the assemblage].

Background: The Argentine Hemorrhagic Fever (AHF) is a zoonotic disease endemic in a wide area of the humid pampa of Argentina. The etiologic agent is the Junin virus that is maintained in the wild by the rodent Calomys musculinus and transmitted to humans, mainly, through aerosols generated from secretions and excretions.

Aims: To characterize and compare the assemblages of small rodent composition and diversity inside the epidemic, historic and non-endemic zone of AHF and to register C.

Effective Population Size Differences in , the Host of Junín Virus: Their Relationship with the Epidemiological History of Argentine Hemorrhagic Fever.

Argentine hemorrhagic fever (AHF) is a serious endemic disease in Argentina, produced by Junín virus, whose host is the Sigmodontinae rodent . Within the endemic area, human incidence and proportion of infected rodents remains high for 5-10 years after the first appearance of the disease (epidemic [E] zone) and then gradually declines to sporadic cases (historic [H] zone). We tested the hypothesis that host populations within the E zone are large and well connected by gene flow, facilitating the transmission and maintenance of the virus, whereas those in the H and nonendemic (NE) zones are small and isolated, with the opposite effect.

Ecology of rodent-associated hantaviruses in the Southern Cone of South America: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Thirteen hantavirus genotypes, associated with at least 12 sigmodontine reservoir rodents, have been recognized in the four countries that represent the Southern Cone of South America. Host-virus relationships are not as well defined as in North America; several Southern Cone hantaviruses appear to share a common host and some viruses do not occur throughout the range of their host. Although hantavirus-host relationships in the Southern Cone are less strictly concordant with the single-host-single-virus pattern reported elsewhere, recent studies suggest that much of the ambiguity may result from an incomplete understanding of host and hantavirus systematics.

Temporal and spatial host abundance and prevalence of Andes hantavirus in southern Argentina.

Andes virus (AND) is a hantavirus hosted by the sigmodontine rodent Oligoryzomys longicaudatus in southern Argentina, where it is responsible for most cases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Our study provides data about the spatial variation in abundance of the rodent host of AND hantavirus. We report results of a longitudinal study performed in a locality of the Andean region of Chubut Province.

Isolation and characterization of microsatellite markers in Oligoryzomys longicaudatus (Muridae, Sigmodontinae, Oryzomini), the natural reservoir of genotype Andes hantavirus.

The rodent Oligoryzomys longicaudatus or long-tailed pygmy rice rat is the reservoir of the aetiological agent of the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in southern Argentina and Chile. We characterize 11 polymorphic microsatellite loci which would be useful for studies on microgeographical population structure in the species. Amplification of these loci in 42 individuals from four natural populations revealed four to 21 alleles per locus, and values of observed heterozygosities ranging from 0.