Based on studies in nearby areas, doctor says local rodent population could sustain the hepatitis E virusLatest rat-to-human infection, reported on Monday, involved 70-year-old woman in Wong Tai Sin
Hong Kong’s rat population could well sustain the hepatitis virus recently proved capable of jumping from rodents to people, a medical expert said following the report of the world’s second such human infection in the city.
About 1 per cent of rats carry the hepatitis E virus, according to studies in neighbouring cities, Dr Siddharth Sridhar, clinical assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong’s department of microbiology, said.
The latest rat-to-human infection was reported on Monday, and involved a 70-year-old Hong Kong woman. That came almost two months after another local resident was revealed as the first in the city, and also thought to be the first known case in the world.
Both patients lived in Wong Tai Sin district and were infected last year.
“As rats have a high reproductive rate and there are always non-immune young rats, the virus is probably stably maintained in rat populations,” said Sridhar, who was involved in investigation of the two cases.
Citing previous studies in Shenzhen and other parts of Guangdong province, he said about one in every 100 rats carried the hepatitis E virus at any one time.
