ABSTRACT
Dobrava-Belgrade virus (DOBV) is a unique virus species within the genus Hantavirus, family Bunyaviridae. The virus is naturally harbored by mice of the genus Apodemus, subfamily Murinae, family Muridae, and is transmitted to humans by aerosolized rodent excreta. DOBV infection causes hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). At the current state of knowledge, DOBV-caused HFRS seems to be limited to Europe. However, there are some additional hantavirus species (e.g., Hantaan virus, Puumala virus, Seoul virus) that cause HFRS in Asia and Europe [1-3] and most probably in Africa [4a,4b]. Hantaviruses carried by New World mice in the Americas (e.g., Sin Nombre virus, Andes virus) cause a disease named Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome, HCPS [1,5]. In addition to rodents, shrews and moles were shown to be alternative hantavirus hosts [6-8], however, the clinical signicance of shrew-borne hantaviruses is still unclear.
