Epidemiology of Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome in Korea, 2001-2010

Abstract

This study describes the epidemiology of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in the past 10 yr (2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) in Korea. During this period, a total of 3,953 HFRS patients and an average prevalence rate of 0.81 per 100,000 population were recorded, with a total of 40 fatal cases, corresponding to a case fatality rate of 1.01%. More HFRS cases were found in men than in women (57% vs 43%), and a higher prevalence rate of HFRS was observed in patients older than 40 yr (82.1%). The highest numbers of HFRS cases were found amongst farmers (35.6%). The majority of HFRS cases (71.3%) occurred in the last quarter of the calendar year (October to December). More HFRS cases occurred in the western part than in the eastern part of Korea (68.9% vs 31.1%). The incidence of HFRS was significantly higher (P < 0.001) in rural areas than in urban areas (80.3% vs 19.7%). HFRS still occurs commonly among men, in autumn, and in western rural area of Korea. http://dx.doi.org/10. 3346/jkms.2013.28.10.1552 • J Korean Med Sci 2013 28: 1552-1554 BRIEF COMMUNICATION Infectious Diseases, Microbiology & ParasitologyHantavirus infection induces 2 different diseases, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), mainly in Korea, far east Russia, and China and in the United States, respectively (1, 2). The viruses are transmitted to humans by the inhalation of excreta of rodents infected with hantaviruses (3). HFRS was first recognized during the Korean War in the early 1950s, and although a hantavirus vaccine has been developed, the disease remains a serious problem in Asia and Europe (1, 4), and especially among soldiers in Korea (5, 6). A 2006 report describes HFRS epidemiology in endemic regions in Korea during a relatively short period, 1995-1998 (7); however, an updated epidemiological study is necessary to better understand the current status of HFRS in Korea. This study provides a comprehensive epidemiological overview of HFRS during the past decade in Korea.Raw data were utilized from the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS) website of the Korean Center for (Table 1). The prevalence rate (PR) of HFRS per 100,000 population and case fatality rate (CFR) were estimated by the criteria established by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the upper and lower limits of the 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Statistically significant differences between the epidemiological aspects were determined at P < 0.05 and P < 0.01 using the chi-square test or the paired t-test. The data analyses were carried out using the statistical system software included in Microsoft Excel 2007.As shown in Table 1, the HFRS cases were analyzed according to the PR, CFR, gender, age, and occupation of the infected individuals. There were a total of 3,953 HFRS patients with an average PR of 0.81 (95% CI, 0.79-0.85) per 100,000 population and a total of 40 fatal cases with a CFR of 1.01% (95% CI, 0.7-1.3). A significantly higher number (P <...

Geographical clustering of hantavirus isolates from Apodemus agrarius identified in the Republic of Korea indicate the emergence of a new hantavirus genotype

“…In this study, the majority of the HFRS cases were reported in the last quarter of the calendar year (October, November, and December). Presumably, the higher incidence of HFRS in these months can be attributed to the higher numbers of hantavirus-infected rodents in the ROK during this period [16]. Here, we found that a significantly (P < 0.01) higher proportion of HFRSpositive rodents was collected in Jeju during May (85.7%) and October (50%).…”

“…Additionally, serological results were obtained for 5 (11%) of the A. agrarius serum samples collected from Jeju. Interestingly, until 2013, only a single human HFRS case was documented from Jeju Island, amongst a total of 3,953 HFRS cases reported over almost a decade in the ROK [16,18]. Another report, published in 2017, referenced five human HFRS cases from Jeju over a period from 2001 to 10 season variation suggests that this region may be at risk for a viral outbreak in the future.…”

Genetic Diversity and Reassortment of Hantaan Virus Tripartite RNA Genomes in Nature, the Republic of Korea

“…agrarius was much lower for Gangwon province, these data suggest that Gyeonggi province poses significantly higher HFRS health risks than Gangwon province [ 8 , 9 , 14 , 15 ]. To support this, the incidence of HFRS patients in Gangwon province was lower than that in Gyeonggi province, demonstrating a correlation between rodent seroprevalence and human disease data [ 25 ].…”

Absence of a Seasonal Variation of Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome in Yeoncheon Compared to Nationwide Korea

“…Some previous studies have investigated the epidemiology of HFRS in Korea, which showed a higher incidence of HFRS in Yeoncheon than in other regions. A study of HFRS epidemiology from 1996 to 1998 reported that the incidence of HFRS in Yeoncheon was 2.3-6.3 per 100,000 individuals, which was much higher than the national average (0.81 per 100,000) [ 13 16 ]. In a nationwide study of HFRS epidemiology in Korea that was conducted from 2001 to 2010, 17.2% (678/3,953) of HFRS cases occurred in the Gyeonggi province, which includes Yeoncheon, and this province showed a higher incidence than any other region in Korea [ 16 ].…”