Abstract
The primary objective of this study was to extend our knowledge of the geographical distribution, genetic diversity, and natural host associations of the hantaviruses indigenous to North America. Antibody to a hantavirus was found in 5 (20.8%) of 24 Coues' oryzomys (Oryzomys couesi) and none of 41 other rodents captured near the town of Catacamas in eastern Honduras, and a hantavirus was isolated from one of the antibody-positive Coues' oryzomys. Analyses of nucleotide and amino acid sequence data indicated that the viral isolate is a strain of a novel hantaviral species (proposed species name "Catacamas virus") that is phylogenetically most closely related to Bayou virus, a hantaviral species that is principally associated with Oryzomys palustris (marsh oryzomys) in the southeastern United States. Catacamas virus is the first evidence for the occurrence of a hantaviral species in Honduras and the first evidence that a hantaviral species is naturally associated with an Oryzomys species other than O. palustris.