Spatial heterogeneity of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome is driven by environmental factors and rodent community composition

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2018 Oct 24;12(10):e0006881. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0006881. eCollection 2018 Oct.

Abstract

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a rodent-borne disease caused mainly by two hantaviruses in China: Hantaan virus and Seoul virus. Environmental factors can significantly affect the risk of contracting hantavirus infections, primarily through their effects on rodent population dynamics and human-rodent contact. We aimed to clarify the environmental risk factors favoring rodent-to-human transmission to provide scientific evidence for developing effective HFRS prevention and control strategies. The 10-year (2006-2015) field surveillance data from the rodent hosts for hantavirus, the epidemiological and environmental data extracted from satellite images and meteorological stations, rodent-to-human transmission rates and impacts of the environment on rodent community composition were used to quantify the relationships among environmental factors, rodent species and HFRS occurrence. The study included 709 cases of HFRS. Rodent species in Chenzhou, a hantavirus hotspot, comprise mainly Rattus norvegicus, Mus musculus, R. flavipectus and some other species (R. losea and Microtus fortis calamorum). The rodent species played different roles across the various land types we examined, but all of them were associated with transmission risks. Some species were associated with HFRS occurrence risk in forest and water bodies. R. norvegicus and R. flavipectus were associated with risk of HFRS incidence in grassland, whereas M. musculus and R. flavipectus were associated with this risk in built-on land. The rodent community composition was also associated with environmental variability. The predictive risk models based on these significant factors were validated by a good-fit model, where: cultivated land was predicted to represent the highest risk for HFRS incidence, which accords with the statistics for HFRS cases in 2014-2015. The spatial heterogeneity of HFRS disease may be influenced by rodent community composition, which is associated with local environmental conditions. Therefore, future work should focus on preventing HFRS is moist, warm environments.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • China / epidemiology
  • Environmental Exposure*
  • Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome / epidemiology*
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Risk Factors
  • Rodentia / growth & development*
  • Spatial Analysis
  • Topography, Medical*
  • Zoonoses / epidemiology*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81673234, 31500383, 81460520) (http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/), the Construct Program of the Key Discipline in Hunan Province of China (2011001) (http://jyt.hunan.gov.cn/), Science and Technology Planning Project of Hunan Province, China (2015JC3063)(http://www.most.gov.cn/), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. (http://www.moe.gov.cn/) and Key Subject Construction Project of Hunan Normal University (geographic information systems). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.