Hantavirus infection in rodents and haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Shaanxi province, China, 1984–2012

Abstract

The transmission of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is deeply influenced by the reservoir and hantavirus prevalence rate. In this study, a surveillance on human HFRS cases, relative rodent abundance, and hantavirus infection prevalence was conducted in Shaanxi province, China, during 1984-2012. A generalized linear model with Poisson-distributed residuals and a log link was used to quantify the relationship between reservoir, virus and HFRS cases. The result indicated that there was a significant association of HFRS incidence with relative rodent density and the prevalence rate. This research provides evidence that the changes of infection prevalence in the reservoir could lead directly to the emergence of a new epidemic. It was concluded that the measurement of a number of these variables could be used in disease surveillance to give useful advance warning of potential disease epidemics.

Interannual cycles of Hantaan virus outbreaks at the human–animal interface in Central China are controlled by temperature and rainfall

“…We model this by forcing the rate of change with two extrinsic drivers, namely, seasonality and climate covariates (here temperature and rainfall): β t = β seas β clim . The transmission rate β t is governed by: β seas,t = X n i=1 φ i Δ i Month i [5] logðI t+1 Þ = α logðI t Þ + α logðA t + τÞ + log À β seas,t β clim,t Á + logðS t Þ, [6] where Temperature and Rainfall are the monthly average temperature and accumulated rainfall, respectively, and time lags are determined by wavelet coherence analyses (SI Appendix, Fig. S7).…”

“…Here, we combine animal surveillance data with epidemiological records of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) for the past one-half century in the Weihe Plain, a natural Hantaan virus (HTNV) infection focal point in Central China ( Fig. 1) (5). We examine whether the observed interannual cycles were driven by external factors, such as climate and/or animal population dynamics.…”

Mechanistic Insight into Bunyavirus-Induced Membrane Fusion from Structure-Function Analyses of the Hantavirus Envelope Glycoprotein Gc

“…The name hantavirus derives from the prototype virus, Hantaan virus, which was discovered in the early 1950s during the Korean war, when troops stationed by the Hantaan river developed hemorrhagic manifestations [5]. Outbreaks of hantavirus disease of varying severity have occurred periodically in the last decades throughout the Americas [6, 7] and in Europe and Asia [8, 9]. It is therefore important to understand the structural organization of hantavirus particles as a step forward in attempts to devise curative or preventative strategies.…”

Using Satellite Data for the Characterization of Local Animal Reservoir Populations of Hantaan Virus on the Weihe Plain, China

“…In 1984, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) broke out in Shaanxi Province, marked by rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis symptoms and a high likelihood of mortality caused by the Hantaan virus (HTNV, family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus): a total of 1439 cases and an incidence of 0.3% occurred in Hu County (Shanxi Province) [1,2]. Although a significant decrease in the number of HFRS cases has been observed over the long-term, the 493 cases reported between 2010 and 2011 reawakened concern about the possible risk of disease.…”