Study on surveillance of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Taiyuan from 1984 to 2003

Objective The present study was conducted to find out the epidemiological factors and pattern of the hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Taiyuan for the purpose of effective control of HFRS. Methods The monitoring was conducted according to the National HFRS Surveillance Program. The immune fluorescence assay was used to detect the HFRS antigen and antibody. The efficacy of the monitoring and control of the epidemic among residents and rats was then evaluated. Results 1040 cases and 15 deaths of HFRS were recorded in the surveillance in Taiyuan,with the case fatality of 1.44%. The duration for peak prevalence was singly in spring from March to May,and the highest incidence was found among the youth and the workers. The ratio of sex was 4.62∶1,male higher than female. The cases were distributed over ten counties (districts and cities) in Taiyuan,more cases being found in urban area than rural counties. The monitoring results among rats indicated that the captured rats could be divided into 13 species in 4 families of 6 orders in the last 20 years. Rattus norvegicus,which was predominant and had the virus carrier rate of 5.88%,and mus musculus were identified indoors. Among the 13 species of identified outdoor rats,cricetulus trition and house mice were predominant,and there was no HFRS virus found among them. Conclusion Taiyuan is an HFRS epidemic area where the domestic rodent was the single infective source. Rattus norregicus was the main host of HFRS virus and infective source.