Surveillance for hemorrhagie fever with renal syndrome in China, 2024

Objective To summarize the surveillance data of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in China in 2024, describe the epidemiological characteristics of HFRS, and analyze the incidence trend of the disease.

Methods Based on the incidence data of HFRS directly reported through the National Notifiable Disease Reporting System (NNDRS) in 2024 and the surveillance data from 41 HFRS surveillance areas in China, descriptive epidemiological statistical methods were used to systematically analyze the core epidemiological indicators of reported HFRS cases in 2024, including the reported case count, death count, incidence rate, mortality rate, and case fatality rate, as well as the geographic distribution, seasonality, sex, age and population distributions.. In additional, core surveillance indicators from the surveillance areas were analyzed, including the incidence, laboratory confirmation rate, host rodent density and rodent virus-carriageg rate.

Results In 2024, the the incidence of HFRS continued to decline in China with 4259 cases and 12 deaths being reported . The reported cases decreased by 20.54% compared with 2023, while the reported deaths remained unchanged. The incidence rate decreased to 0.30/100000, a decrease of 20.41% compared with 2023. The mortality rate was consistent with the previous year, while the case fatality rate increased slightly to 0.28%. The disease exhibited distinct geographic, seasonal, and population distributions. The disease mainly occurred in northeastern, northern and central-southern China, as well as Shaanxi and Shandong provinces; the cases reported in 10 provinces with high incidences accounted for 77.06% of national total. The incidence was high in June and November, but the peak occurred during autumn-winter. Young and middle-aged men aged 25–70 years were populations at high risk, with farmers being the main occupational group affected. The incidence trend in the surveillance areass was consistent with the national trend. The core host rodent species remained unchanged; but the overall rodent density decreased and the rodent virus-carriage rate increased slightly. The disease burden levels in some local areas were still high.

Conclusion In 2024, the incidence of HFRS continued to decline in China, however, the fluctuations in rodent virus-carriage rate and the risk of local outbreak persisted, highlighting the importance of improved prevention and control. It is necessary to further improve the HFRS surveillance system based on comprehensive prevention and control measures to achieve precise epidemic management.