Abstract

Four species of rats have been reported as new Hantavirus reservoirs in Indonesia. They were Rattus tiomanicus, Rattusargentiventer, Bandicota indica, and Maxomys surifer. So far, there is no report of R.tiomanicus  as a Hantavirus reservoir in the worldwide, however, the other rats have been recognized in some countries in Asia such as B. indica in Thailand, R.argentiventer in Vietnam, and M. surifer in Cambodia. The purpose of this study was to identify the types of rats that have potential as Hantavirus reservoirs in various ecosystem types in Central Java Province. The observational descriptive approach in a crossectional design was used in this study. The present study was located in some regencies of Central Java Province namely Pati, Purworejo, and Pekalongan with various ecosystems e.g. close and far areas with settlements divided into the forest, non-forest and coastal ecosystems. The caught rats were identified morphologically and followed by serological examination using  ELISA. A total of 234 rats was successfully caught consisting of 4 genera with 10 species. The result of ELISA for Hantavirus showed that 32 of 234 examined rats were positive (13,68%).It indicated that there were various species of rats which could act as Hantavirus reservoir. The result also demonstrated overlapping habitat among positive rats of Hantavirus.  It needs to be aware of the potential outbreak of Hantavirus in Indonesia transmitted by these rats.