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During the period of 1954-1986, 399 cases of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) were registered in Bulgaria with 63 (15.7%) deaths. Three hundred serum samples from 214 patients who had contracted the disease from 1957 to 1986 were investigated by indirect fluorescent antibody test (IF-AT). As antigen Vero-E6 cells infected with the Asian Hantaan virus were used, as well as lung sections from bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) infected with strains Udmurt and Kazan 6-Cg from the European part of the U.S.S.R. Specific antibodies were detected in 194 sera, i.e. in 90.6% of persons investigated: in 131 single serum samples and in 63 paired sera. The results of the serological studies which covered 53.6% of all known local cases showed the territorial distribution of the natural foci in this country and the aetiologic relationship with the HFRS virus from the European part of the U.S.S.R.

The location of apamin binding sites on the ultrastructural level was revealed by the immunocytoenzymatic analysis using antibodies. It was shown that apamin binding sites are localized on the plasma membrane of smooth muscle cells and in nerve endings.