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About the Authors:
Karoun H. Bagamian
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliations Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution Program, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, Viral Special Pathogens Branch, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, Department of Biology, Montana Tech, University of Montana, Butte, Montana, United States of America
Jonathan S. Towner
Affiliation: Viral Special Pathogens Branch, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Amy J. Kuenzi
Affiliation: Department of Biology, Montana Tech, University of Montana, Butte, Montana, United States of America
Richard J. Douglass
Affiliation: Department of Biology, Montana Tech, University of Montana, Butte, Montana, United States of America
Pierre E. Rollin
Affiliation: Viral Special Pathogens Branch, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Lance A. Waller
Affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
James N. Mills
Affiliations Population Biology, Ecology and Evolution Program, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, Viral Special Pathogens Branch, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Introduction
Recognition that most emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic [1] has led to increased investigation of wildlife host-pathogen systems designed to characterize pathogens, identify hosts, and describe environmental factors associated with transmission, in order to develop predictive tools and inform control and prevention policies. For example, after a highly fatal outbreak of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in the southwestern USA in 1993, an interdisciplinary team identified a novel hantavirus, Sin Nombre hantavirus (SNV), as the causative agent and the North American deermouse (Peromyscus maniculatus; hereafter referred to as “deermouse”) as the host [2], [3]. Field studies identified environmental conditions associated with increased deermouse populations and transmission in those populations, and described conditions favorable for human infection. These findings lead to predictive models [4], [5], and successful interventions to mitigate human disease [6], [7].
Through 2011, 587 HPS cases have been confirmed in the USA. The disease largely affects rural inhabitants, and has a 35% case-fatality rate (http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/surveillance/index.html). Numerous SNV-like...