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Viremia and Antibody Response of Small African and Laboratory Animals to Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Infection

Eleven species of small African wild mammals, laboratory rabbits, guinea pigs, and Syrian hamsters were infected with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus. Low-titered viremia followed by development of antibody was observed in scrub hares (Lepus saxatilis), Cape ground squirrels (Xerus inauris), red veld rats (Aethomys chrysophilus), white tailed rats (Mystromys albicaudatus), bushveld gerbils (Tatera leucogaster), striped mice (Rhabdomys pumilio), and guinea pigs. The maximum viremic titer in 4 scrub hares was 10^1.7–4.2 50% mouse lethal doses/ml. Viremia was detected in 1/17 infected laboratory rabbits. Antibody response was only detected in South African hedgehogs (Atelerix frontalis), highveld gerbils (T. brantsii), Namaqua gerbils (Desmodillus auricularis), 2 species of multimammate mouse (Mastomys natalensis and M. coucha), and Syrian hamsters. The results of the study indicate that a proportion of infected scrub hares develop CCHF viremia of an intensity shown in the Soviet Union to be sufficient for infection of feeding immature ixodid ticks, but that South African hedgehogs and wild rodents are unlikely to be of importance as maintenance hosts of the virus in southern Africa.