Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome risk in Entre Ríos, Argentina

MARIA VICTORIA VADELL; ANIBAL EDUARDO CARBAJO; CAROLINA MASSA; GERARDO CUETO; ISABEL ELISA GOMEZ VILLAFAÑE

ECOHEALTH

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2019 vol. 16 p. 558 - 569

1612-9202

Hantaviruspulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a severe emerging endemic disease of theAmericas. Because hantavirus reservoirs are sylvaticrodents, HPS risk has been associated to occupational andrecreational activities in natural and rural environments. The aim ofthis study was to analyze the risk of HPS in an endemic province ofArgentina. For this, we explored the relationship between HPS casesoccurring in Entre Ríos province between 2004 and 2015, and climate,vegetation, landscape, reservoir population, and rodent communitycharacteristics by means of generalized linear models. We modelledHPS occurrence at each site, and both the incidence and number ofcases grouped by department. The resulting best model of eachanalysis was applied in a GIS to build HPS risk maps. Risk ofoccurrence of HPS increased with tree cover and decreased withdistance to rivers. We identified the south of Entre Ríos as thearea with higher HPS risk, and therefore, where HPS preventionmeasures should be more urgently applied. Risk maps based on dataavailable in the public domain are a useful tool that should be usedby decision makers to concentrate surveillance and control efforts inthose areas with highest HPS risk.p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 115%; }p.western { font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; }p.cjk { font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; }p.ctl { font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 11pt; }a:link { color: rgb(5, 99, 193); }a.ctl:link { font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; }