Kallio Eva R, Voutilainen Liina, Vapalahti Olli, Vaheri Antti, Henttonen Heikki, Koskela Esa, Mappes Tapio
Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40014, University of Jyväiskylä, Finland.
Ecology. 2007 Aug;88(8):1911-6. doi: 10.1890/06-1620.1.
The influence of pathogens on host fitness is one of the key questions in infection ecology. Hantaviruses have coevolved with their hosts and are generally thought to have little or no effect on host survival or reproduction. We examined the effect of Puumala virus (PUUV) infection on the winter survival of bank voles (Myodes glareolus), the host of this virus. The data were collected by monitoring 22 islands over three consecutive winters (a total of 55 island populations) in an endemic area of central Finland. We show that PUUV infected bank voles had a significantly lower overwinter survival probability than antibody negative bank voles. Antibody negative female bank voles from low-density populations living on large islands had the highest survival. The results were similar at the population level as the spring population size and density were negatively correlated with PUUV prevalence in the autumn. Our results provide the first evidence for a significant effect of PUUV on host survival suggesting that hantaviruses, and endemic pathogens in general, deserve even more attention in studies of host population dynamics.
病原体对宿主适应性的影响是感染生态学的关键问题之一。汉坦病毒与宿主共同进化，一般认为对宿主的生存或繁殖影响很小或没有影响。我们研究了普马拉病毒（PUUV）感染对该病毒宿主棕背䶄（Myodes glareolus）冬季存活的影响。数据是通过在芬兰中部一个疫区连续三个冬季监测22个岛屿（总共55个岛屿种群）收集的。我们发现，感染PUUV的棕背䶄越冬存活概率显著低于抗体阴性的棕背䶄。生活在大岛屿上低密度种群中的抗体阴性雌性棕背䶄存活率最高。在种群水平上结果相似，因为春季种群规模和密度与秋季PUUV流行率呈负相关。我们的结果首次证明了PUUV对宿主存活有显著影响，表明汉坦病毒以及一般的地方性病原体在宿主种群动态研究中应受到更多关注。
