Epidemiological characteristics and temporal-spatial analysis of overseas imported dengue fever cases in outbreak provinces of China, 2005-2019

Xinchang Lun; Yiguan Wang; Chunchun Zhao; Haixia Wu; Caiying Zhu; Delong Ma; Mingfang Xu; Jun Wang; Qiyong Liu; Lei Xu; Fengxia Meng

doi:10.1186/s40249-022-00937-5

Epidemiological characteristics and temporal-spatial analysis of overseas imported dengue fever cases in outbreak provinces of China, 2005-2019

Infect Dis Poverty. 2022 Jan 24;11(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s40249-022-00937-5.

Authors

Xinchang Lun¹, Yiguan Wang¹, Chunchun Zhao¹, Haixia Wu¹, Caiying Zhu², Delong Ma^{1

3}, Mingfang Xu¹, Jun Wang¹, Qiyong Liu¹, Lei Xu⁴, Fengxia Meng⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, 102206, People's Republic of China.
² ChangSha Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Changsha, 410004, Hunan, People's Republic of China.
³ School of Public Health and Health Management, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, 250117, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People's Republic of China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, 102206, People's Republic of China. mengfengxia@icdc.cn.

Abstract

Background: Overseas imported dengue fever is an important factor in local outbreaks of this disease in the mainland of China. To better prevent and control such local outbreaks, the epidemiological characteristics and temporal-spatial distribution of overseas imported dengue fever cases in provincial-level administrative divisions (PLADs) where dengue fever is outbreak in the mainland of China were explored.

Methods: Using the Chinese National Notifiable Infectious Disease Reporting Information System (CNNDS), we identified overseas imported dengue fever cases in dengue fever outbreak areas in the mainland of China from 2005 to 2019 to draw the epidemic curve and population characteristic distribution of overseas imported cases in each PLAD. Based on spatial autocorrelation analysis of ArcGIS 10.5 and temporal-spatial scanning analysis of SaTScan 9.5, we analyzed the temporal-spatial distribution of overseas imported dengue fever in dengue fever outbreak areas in the mainland of China.

Results: A total of 11,407 imported cases, mainly from Southeast Asia, were recorded from 2005 to 2019 in these 13 PLADs. Of which 62.1% were imported into Yunnan and Guangdong Provinces. Among the imported cases, there were more males than females, mainly from the 21-50 age group. The hot spots were concentrated in parts of Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian Provinces. We found the cluster of infected areas were expanding northward.

Conclusions: Based on the analysis of overseas imported dengue cases in 13 PLADs of the mainland of China from 2005 to 2019, we obtained the epidemiological characteristics and spatial distribution of imported dengue cases. Border controls need to pay attention to key population sectors, such as 21-50 years old men and education of key populations on dengue prevention. There is a need to improve the awareness of the prevention and control of imported cases in border areas. At the same time, northern regions cannot relax their vigilance.

Keywords: China; Dengue fever; Epidemiology; Imported case; Temporal-spatial distribution.

MeSH terms

Adult
China / epidemiology
Dengue* / epidemiology
Disease Outbreaks
Epidemics*
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Spatial Analysis
Young Adult