Abstract
Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a serious public health problem in the People's Republic of China. Although 7 sero/genotypes of hantaviruses have been found in rodents, only Hantaan virus (carried by Apodemus agrarius mice) and Seoul virus (carried by Rattus norvegicus rats) reportedly cause disease in humans. During 1950-2007, a total of 1,557,622 cases of HFRS in humans and 46,427 deaths (3%) were reported in China. HFRS has been reported in 29 of 31 provinces in China. After implementation of comprehensive preventive measures, including vaccination, in the past decade in China, incidence of HFRS has dramatically decreased; only 11,248 HFRS cases were reported in 2007. Mortality rates also declined from the highest level of 14.2% in 1969 to ?1% during 1995-2007. However, the numbers of HFRS cases and deaths in China remain the highest in the world.
Highlights
Sorex araneusAre the predominant species (Table 1) and have been found in 28 and 30 provinces, respectively, in China
Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a serious public health problem in the People’s Republic of China
Before 1982, HFRS cases were defined by a national standard of clinical criteria; and starting in 1982, cases were confirmed by detection of antibodies against hantavirus in patients’ serum samples
Summary
Are the predominant species (Table 1) and have been found in 28 and 30 provinces, respectively, in China. National HFRS surveillance data (1984–2000) and the nationwide geographic epidemiologic investigation of HFRS (1984–1987) have detected hantavirus antibodies or antigens in 67 species of vertebrates [23,28]. 38 species of rodents and 8 species of insectivores had been found to contain hantavirus antigen. Hantavirus infection has been reported for several species of domestic animals (e.g., cats, pigs, rabbits, dogs) as well. We found hantavirus antigen in lung tissue of midday jirds (Meriones meridianus), which belong to family Muridae, subfamily Gerbilinae, which have not been known to carry hantaviruses [14]. During 1984–2000, a total of 167,540 small animals were trapped in the wild (mostly A. agrarius mice) and 184,096 rodents were trapped in residential areas
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