Ocozocoautla de Espinosa virus and hemorrhagic fever, Mexico

Abstract

Arenavirus RNA was isolated from Mexican deer mice (Peromyscus mexicanus) captured near the site of a 1967 epidemic of hemorrhagic fever in southern Mexico. Analyses of nucleotide and amino acid sequence data indicated that the deer mice were infected with a novel Tacaribe serocomplex virus (proposed name Ocozocoautla de Espinosa virus), which is phylogenetically closely relatedto Tacaribe serocomplex viruses that cause hemorrhagicfever in humans in South America.