Landscape elements and Hantaan virus-related hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, People's Republic of China.

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is an important public health problem in the People's Republic of China, accounting for 90% of human cases reported globally. In this study, a landscape epidemiologic approach, combined with geographic information system and remote sensing techniques, was applied to increase our understanding of HFRS due to Hantaan virus and its relationship with landscape elements in China. The landscape elements considered were elevation, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), precipitation, annual cumulative air temperature, land surface temperature, soil type, and land use.