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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2007, p. 2547-2551, Vol. 73, No. 8
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02869-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Ex Vivo Stability of the Rodent-Borne Hantaan Virus in Comparison to That of Arthropod-Borne Members of the Bunyaviridae Family{triangledown}

J. Hardestam,1,2* M. Simon,1,2 K. O. Hedlund,1 A. Vaheri,3 J. Klingström,1,2 and Å. Lundkvist1,2

Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, S-171 82 Solna, Sweden,1 Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, S-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden,2 Department of Virology, Haartman Institute, P.O. Box 21, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland3

Received 11 December 2006/ Accepted 15 February 2007

The possible effect of virus adaptation to different transmission routes on virus stability in the environment is not well known. In this study we have compared the stabilities of three viruses within the Bunyaviridae family: the rodent-borne Hantavirus Hantaan virus (HTNV), the sand fly-borne Phlebovirus sandfly fever Sicilian virus (SFSV), and the tick-borne Nairovirus Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV). These viruses differ in their transmission routes: SFSV and CCHFV are vector borne, whereas HTNV is spread directly between its hosts, and to humans, via the environment. We studied whether these viruses differed regarding stability when kept outside of the host. Viral survival was analyzed at different time points upon exposure to different temperatures (4°C, 20°C, and 37°C) and drying at 20°C. We observed clearly different stabilities under wet conditions, particularly at 4°C, where infectious SFSV, HTNV, and CCHFV were detectable after 528, 96, and 15 days, respectively. All three viruses were equally sensitive to drying, as shown by drying on aluminum discs. Furthermore, HTNV and SFSV partially survived for 2 min in 30% ethanol, whereas CCHFV did not. Electron microscopy images of HTNV, SSFSV, and CCHFV stored at 37°C until infectivity was lost still showed the occurrence of virions, but with abnormal shapes and densities compared to those of the nonincubated samples. In conclusion, our study points out important differences in ex vivo stability among viruses within the Bunyaviridae family.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, S-171 82 Solna, Sweden. Phone: 46 8 457 26 03. Fax: 46 8 30 79 57. E-mail: jonas.hardestam{at}smi.ki.se

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 2 March 2007.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2007, p. 2547-2551, Vol. 73, No. 8
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02869-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

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