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USE OF IgG AVIDITY TO INDIRECTLY MONITOR EPIZOOTIC TRANSMISSION OF SIN NOMBRE VIRUS IN DEER MICE (PEROMYSCUS MANICULATUS)

An IgG avidity assay was developed to differentiate deer mice that had recently acquired Sin Nombre virus (SNV) from those that were infected in the distant past. Using this procedure, low avidity antibodies were predominantly detected in experimentally infected deer mice (89.5%) within the first 30 days post-inoculation. The assay was then applied to sera from naturally infected deer mice collected during a field investigation associated with a cluster of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome cases. A higher proportion of seropositive mice collected during the outbreak had serum with low avidity antibodies (16.7%) when compared with mice trapped four months later (5.7%). Sin Nombre virus RNA was detectable in blood in a similar fraction of low- (45%) and high- (38.7%) avidity groups. Non-adult mice were more likely to contain low-avidity antibodies (44.4%) than were adults (9.6%). Our results indicate that the IgG avidity assay shows promise as a tool to better characterize epizootic intensity and to identify factors involved in SNV transmission.

Received April 26, 2006. Accepted for publication July 29, 2006.

Acknowledgments: We thank Antonia Dibernardo, Katarina Strank, and Michael Gray (National Microbiology Laboratory) for their technical assistance and Dr. Dan Chateau (Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba) for assisting with the statistical analysis.

Financial support: David Safronetz was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research/International Center for Infectious Diseases/University of Manitoba training program in infectious diseases and the Manitoba Health Research Council. Brian Hjelle was supported by U.S. Public Health Service grant U01 AI 56618-01. Rafael A. Medina was supported by a Fogarty Actions for Building Capacity Award D43 TW01133.

^* Address correspondence to Michael A. Drebot, Zoonotic Diseases and Special Pathogens, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, 1015 Arlington Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 3R2, Canada. E-mail: mike_drebot{at}phac-aspc.gc.ca

Authors’ addresses: David Safronetz, Department of Medical Microbiology, Room 543 BMSB, University of Manitoba, 730 William Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 0W3, Canada, Telephone: 204-789-7043, Fax: 204-789-2082. Robbin Lindsay and Michael A. Drebot, Zoonotic Diseases and Special Pathogens, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, 1015 Arlington Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 3R2, Canada, Telephone: 204-789-2000, Fax: 204- 789-2082. Brian Hjelle, Rafael A. Medina, and Katy Mirowsky-Garcia, Center for Infectious Diseases and Immunity, Department of Pathology, University of New Mexico, 329 CRF, MSC08 4640, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, Telephone: 505-272-0624, Fax: 505272-4401.

Reprint requests: Michael A. Drebot, Zoonotic Diseases and Special Pathogens, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, 1015 Arlington Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 3R2, Canada, Telephone: 204-789-6059, Fax: 204-789-2082, E-mail: mike_drebot{at}phac-aspc.gc.ca.