Direct genetic detection of Dobrava virus in Greek and Albanian patients with hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome

Blood samples were collected from an Albanian and a Greek patient with hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome and tested by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. The genetic detection assay amplified hantavirus-specific DNA fragments from RNA extracted from the blood of the patients; nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the causative agent of the disease was Dobrava virus. These findings suggest that Dobrava virus (which was originally isolated from the lungs of an Apodemus flavicollis mouse in Slovenia) is endemic throughout the Balkan States and causes overt human disease.