Hantaan virus antibody prevalence in rodent populations of several provinces of northeastern Thailand

Summary We conducted a serological survey of 632 rodents from the northeast region of Thailand in order to assess the presence of Hantaan‐like viruses that may be a risk to the human population. Rodents were collected from rice fields, houses and domestic gardens in five northeastern provinces and tested for IgG reacting sera to Hantaan antigen using enzyme‐linked immunoassays. The overall prevalence of Hantavirus infection in rodents was 2.1% (13/632). Species that tested positive included Bandicota indica (4.3% positive within species), Rattus exulans (2.1%), R. losea (1.6%) and R. rattus (0.9%). Species such as R. exulans and R. losea are candidate hosts of unidentified Hantaan‐like viruses in Thailand.