Serological methods for detection of infection with shrew-borne hantaviruses: Thottapalayam, Seewis, Altai, and Asama viruses

The infectivity of shrew-borne hantaviruses to humans is still unclear because of the lack of a serodiagnosis method for these viruses. In this study, we prepared recombinant nucleocapsid (rN) proteins of Seewis orthohantavirus, Altai orthohantavirus (ALTV), Thottapalayam thottimvirus (TPMV), and Asama orthohantavirus. Using monospecific rabbit sera, no antigenic cross-reactivity was observed. In a serosurvey of 104 samples from renal patients and 271 samples from heathy controls from Sri Lanka, one patient serum and two healthy control sera reacted with rN proteins of ALTV and TPMV, respectively. The novel assays should be applied to investigate potential infectivity of shrew-borne hantaviruses to humans.