Rodent-borne infectious disease outbreaks after flooding disasters: Epidemiology, management, and prevention

James H. Diaz, MD, DrPH

doi:10.5055/jem.2015.0255

Authors

James H. Diaz, MD, DrPH

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5055/jem.2015.0255

Keywords:

Hantavirus, New World Hantaviruses, American Hantaviruses, Sin nombre virus, Bayou virus, Black Creek Canal virus, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Old World Hantaviruses, Leptospira interrogans, leptospirosis, Weil's disease, infectious disease outbreaks,

Abstract

Objective: To alert clinicians to the climatic conditions that can precipitate outbreaks of the rodent-borne infectious diseases most often associated with flooding disasters, leptospirosis (LS), and the Hantavirus-caused diseases, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS); to describe the epidemiology and presenting clinical manifestations and outcomes of these rodent-borne infectious diseases; and to recommend both prophylactic therapies and effective control and prevention strategies for rodent-borne infectious diseases.

Design: Internet search engines, including Google®, Google Scholar®, Pub Med, Medline, and Ovid, were queried with the key words as search terms to examine the latest scientific articles on rodent-borne infectious disease outbreaks in the United States and worldwide to describe the epidemiology and presenting clinical manifestations and outcomes of LS and Hantavirus outbreaks.

Setting: Not applicable.

Participants: Not applicable.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main outcome measure: Rodent-borne infectious disease outbreaks following heavy rainfall and flooding disasters.

Results: Heavy rainfall encourages excessive wild grass seed production that supports increased outdoor rodent population densities; and flooding forces rodents from their burrows near water sources into the built environment and closer to humans. Conclusions: Healthcare providers should maintain high levels of suspicion for LS in patients developing febrile illnesses after contaminated freshwater exposures following heavy rainfall, flooding, and even

freshwater recreational events; and for Hantavirus-caused infectious diseases in patients with hemorrhagic fevers that progress rapidly to respiratory or renal failure following rodent exposures.

Author Biography

James H. Diaz, MD, DrPH

Environmental/Occupational Health, LSU School of Public Health, New Orleans, Louisiana

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