Relationship between the incidence of HFRS and changes of land-use in Big Three Gorges area of Chongqing Municipality, China

After the establishment of big reservoirs, the environment along the Yangtze River, China, has changed. The alterations may influence people’s health. This study intended to find out the relationships between the environmental changes and the incidence of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in the Big Three Gorges Area (BTGA) of Chongqing Municipality, China. Landuse thematic maps were applied in the research. The results show that there was a significant relationship between the land-use change in the grass area and the cumulative HFRS incidence (correlation coefficient = − 0.676, P = 0.011). In the BTGA, the land was submerged because water filled in the reservoir, and meanwhile, the government called for returning land for farming to forestry. It is concluded that the changes of environment may influence the incidence of HFRS.