Prevalence of hantavirus contamination in local rodents in Thailand: A short note

Abstract

Hantavirus is considered as a new emerging rodent borne infectious disease that can result in hemorrhagic fever with severe lung and renal complications[1]. The control of disease relies on several methods including the control of the rodents. In Southeast Asia, the problem is also common. The data on the local epidemiology of prevalence of hantavirus contamination in local rodents is very useful for public health strategies planning. In Thailand, a tropical country in Southeast Asia, hantavirus is also considered as an important emerging disease to be focused. To archive the complete data on the prevalence of hantavirus contamination in local rodents in Thailand, the authors hereby present a meta-analysis to identify the prevalence rate of hantavirus contamination in local rodents. The publications from international and local databases (PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus and Thai Index Medicus) were searched and there are at least four reports[2-5] on this topic. The pool estimation for the pooled prevalence is done. The resulted pooled prevalence is 6.798% (95% CI = 5.449%–8.384%). There is no difference of studied prevalence according to time and place of the studies. The result can indicate that there is a high rate of contamination of the virus in rodents in Thailand and there should be an urgent attention for disease surveillance in Thailand. Conflict of interest statement