Pathogenicity of a natural reassortant hantavirus CGRn9415 in newborn rats and newborn mice

To better understand the pathogenicity and infectivity of a natural reassortant CGRn9415 generated from Hantaan virus (HTNV) and Seoul virus (SEOV), CGRn9415, HTNV 76–118 and SEOV L99 were used to infect newborn Kunming (KM) mice and newborn Wistar rats. In KM mice, there was no statistical difference between the death rate with CGRn9415 and that of L99, while 76–118 killed all mice even at low dosage; CGRn9415 killed all infected rats similar to L99 at the dosage of 10 5 f.f.u., while no death occurred in rats infected with 76–118 even as high as 2×10 5 f.f.u., suggesting that the reassortant CGRn9415 possesses similar pathogenicity as L99. Furthermore, the reassortant CGRn9415 could establish a persistent infection in both KM mice and Wistar rats more easily than 76–118 or L99. These data suggest that the reassorted hantavirus behaves more like SEOV as far as the pathogenicity is concerned.