Identifying rodent hantavirus reservoirs, Brazil.

We describe the genetic analysis of samples from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) patients from southern and southeastern states of Brazil and rodents captured at the presumed site of infection of these patients. A total of 65 samples that were antibody-positive for Sin Nombre or Laguna Negra virus by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were processed by nested reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) by using several primer combinations in the M and S genome segments. PCR products were amplified and sequenced from samples from 11 HPS patient and 7 rodent samples.