Detection of Anti‐Orthohantavirus Antibodies in Febrile Patients in India

Orthohantaviruses are a genus of zoonotic viruses from the family Hantaviridae, which is primarily known for their ability to cause severe human diseases. The virus is primarily known for causing two major human diseases, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. However, the frequency of this infection remains largely unknown. Hence, the aim of this study was to diagnose patients infected with Orthohantavirus in India. We tested serum samples from 216 febrile patients, presented at Lisie Hospital, Kochi, for positive anti-orthohantavirus IgM and IgG antibodies. All the participating patients were negative for dengue and scrub typhus IgM antibodies. In total, 16.20% (n = 35) of the febrile patients were positive for anti-orthohantavirus IgM and 11.57% (n = 25) for anti-orthohantavirus IgG antibodies. Anti-orthohantavirus IgM and IgG both were detected in 4.63% (n = 10) of the enrolled subjects. In total, 51.43% of the IgM-positive patients had a final diagnosis of either viral fever or acute febrile disease, with only two patients reported to have contact with rodents, and none of these patients had traveled outside of their place of residence. Orthohantavirus infections may be endemic in India, as their hosts are omnipresent. However, the lack of proper diagnostic tools and limited awareness of these emerging infections amongst doctors in India reduces the diagnosis of the disease. Therefore, there is a pressing need for educating healthcare providers about the circulation of orthohantaviruses in India. There is an urgent need for the development of serotype-specific, affordable, and accurate diagnostic tools for early diagnosis of orthohantavirus infections.