Pasteur International Center for Research on Emerging Infectious Diseases
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The purposes of the study are: (i) to develop and standardize serological and molecular tools for diagnosis and characterization of hantavirus; (ii) to document the presence and diversity of hantaviruses among rodents in urban and rural areas of Cambodia; and (iii) to study the prevalence of hantavirus infection in human and identify factors associated with hantavirus infection and/or exposure. Methods: This is a retrospective study nested in the HEPAR project in which rodent and human samples have been collected from urban and rural areas of Cambodia. The study will be conducted in collaboration with various units of Institut Pasteur Paris, which takes part of the Pasteur International Center for Research on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Hantavirus RNA was detected in 25 (3.3%) rodents collected from urban area only. Seoul orthohantavirus was the predominant virus. In humans, the initial seroprevalence of anti-hantavirus IgG was 10.0% (79/788) in 2020. A second serum sample was collected in 2022 for 555 individuals (70.4%). Six (1.1%) out of 555 individuals became anti-hantavirus IgG positive. Of the six seroconverted individuals, one presented anti-hantavirus IgM. The hantavirus seroprevalence was significantly higher in urban compared to rural area (13.8% vs. 8.9%, p=0.03).