Rats (Rattus norvegicus and Rattus losea) harboring Seoul hantavirus in Qingyuan, southern China: a survey during 2011-2013.

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a zoonotic disease, which threatens public health and its incidence has increased sharply up to the present time in southern China. A survey of HFRS including in both the natural hosts and humans conducted in Qingyuan, southern China, during 2011-2013 revealed that one, two and seven confirmed cases of HFRS occurred in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively. Rodent densities ranged 1.73%-12.2% and Seoul hantavirus was detected by RT-PCR only in Rattus norvegicus and Rattus losea. The positive rate in humans was 0.95% serologically and 0.94% with IIFA in 2011 and 2013, respectively. DNA fragments detected in Rattus norvegicus and Rattus losea were highly homologous with those of Seoul hantavirus HB55 (96.2%) and L99 (95.1%), respectively. Thus HFRS is becoming an emerging and dangerous disease in southern China and it is necessary to further perform molecular characterization of strains isolated from rodents and humans.