Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A National Assessment of the Epidemiology of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, China

2015; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 5; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/srep09679

2045-2322

Kun Liu, Hang Zhou, Ruo-Xi Sun, Hongwu Yao, Li Yu, Liping Wang, Di Mu, Xin‐Lou Li, Yang Yang, Gregory C. Gray, Ning Cui, Wenwu Yin, Li‐Qun Fang, Hongjie Yu, Wu‐Chun Cao,

Mosquito-borne diseases and control

Abstract First discovered in rural areas of middle-eastern China in 2009, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging tick-borne zoonosis affecting hundreds of cases reported in China each year. Using the national surveillance data from 2010 to 2013, we conducted this retrospective epidemiological study and risk assessment of SFTS in China. We found that the incidence of SFTS and its epidemic areas are continuing to grow, but the case fatality rate (CFR) has steadily decreased. SFTS most commonly affected elderly farmers who acquired infection between May and July in middle-eastern China. However, other epidemiological characteristics such as incidence, sex ratio, CFR and seasonality differ substantially across the affected provinces, which seem to be consistent with local agricultural activities and the seasonal abundance of ticks. Spatial scan statistics detected three hot spots of SFTS that accounted for 69.1% of SFTS cases in China. There was a strong association of SFTS incidence with temporal changes in the climate within the clusters. Multivariate modeling identified climate conditions, elevation, forest coverage, cattle density and the presence of Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks as independent risk factors in the distribution of SFTS, based on which a predicted risk map of the disease was derived.