Abstract
BackgroundHemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a rodent-borne disease caused by hantaviruses. Landscape can influence the risk of hantavirus infection for humans, mainly through its effect on rodent community composition and distribution. It is important to understand how landscapes influence population dynamics for different rodent species and the subsequent effect on HFRS risk.MethodsTo determine how rodent community composition influenced human hantavirus infection, we monitored rodent communities in the prefecture-level cities of Loudi and Shaoyang, China, from 2006 to 2013. Land use data were extracted from satellite images and rodent community diversity was analyzed in 45 trapping sites, in different environments. Potential contact matrices, determining how rodent community composition influence HFRS infection among different land use types, were estimated based on rodent community composition and environment type for geo-located HFRS cases.ResultsApodemus agrarius and Rattus norvegicus were the predominant species in Loudi and Shaoyang, respectively. The major risk of HFRS infection was concentrated in areas with cultivated land and was associated with A. agrarius, R. norvegicus, and Rattus flavipectus. In urban areas in Shaoyang, Mus musculus was related to risk of hantavirus infection.ConclusionsLandscape features and rodent community dynamics may affect the risk of human hantavirus infection. Results of this study may be useful for the development of HFRS prevention initiatives that are customized for regions with different geographical environments.
Highlights
Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a rodent-borne disease caused by hantaviruses
Species distribution and HFRS occurrence A total of 906 rodents were trapped in Loudi, where A. agrarius, the main reservoir of Hantaan virus (HTNV), was the predominant species, accounting for 91.4% of all trapped rodents in 2009
This study investigated the relationships among HFRS occurrence, land use type, and rodent community composition
Summary
Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a rodent-borne disease caused by hantaviruses. In 2006–2008, the rodent density in different habitats and the prevalence of major rodent-borne diseases (including HFRS) in Nanchang City in Jiangxi Province were investigated and the risks of the rodent-borne diseases were assessed [25]; The spatial as well as temporal variation in the occurrence of HFRS is linked to geographic differences in the population dynamics of the reservoir rodents in different biomes of Europe [26] These studies showed that studying the relationships among landscape, rodent community composition and HFRS occurrence are beneficial works to promote the progress of the understanding of HFRS epidemiology
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