www.lesswrong.com/posts/u4hAr8R82a4HTqkkW/the-rare-deadly-virus-lurking-in-the-s...
1 correction found
37/113 of the deer mice had SNV DNA in their system.
The study did not find Sin Nombre virus DNA in those mice; it detected SNV RNA by RT-qPCR. Sin Nombre virus is an RNA virus.
Full reasoning
This misstates what the cited study measured.
The PLOS One paper says orthhantaviruses are RNA viruses and reports that rodents were positive for SNV RNA by RT-qPCR. Its methods section describes RNA extraction from lung tissue, followed by reverse transcription and qPCR. A CDC review likewise describes Sin Nombre virus as a single-stranded, 3-segmented RNA virus.
So the study did not show that 37/113 deer mice had "SNV DNA" in their bodies. It showed detection of viral RNA. If one wants to talk about DNA at all here, the only DNA involved would be cDNA made in the lab from extracted RNA as part of the assay—not viral DNA naturally present in the mice.
2 sources
- Distribution and prevalence of Sin Nombre hantavirus in rodent species in eastern New Mexico | PLOS One
Orthohantaviruses are diverse zoonotic RNA viruses... 167 individuals from 16 different species were positive for SNV RNA by RT-qPCR... RNA was extracted from frozen lung tissues...
- Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome—The 25th Anniversary of the Four Corners Outbreak | Emerging Infectious Diseases | CDC
The Sin Nombre virus is a single-stranded, 3-segmented RNA virus of the family Hantaviridae.