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. 2017 Aug 23;7(1):9236.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-08042-6.

The changing epidemiological characteristics of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in China, 2011-2016

Jimin Sun  1   2 , Liang Lu  1 , Haixia Wu  1 , Jun Yang  1 , Jiangping Ren  2 , Qiyong Liu  3
Affiliations

The changing epidemiological characteristics of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in China, 2011-2016

Jimin Sun et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is emerging and the number of SFTS cases increased year by year in China. In order to explore the epidemiology trend, we analyzed the changing epidemiological characteristics of SFTS cases in different years and compare characteristics in different provinces. From 2011 to 2016, a total of 5360 laboratory-confirmed SFTS cases were reported and annual case numbers increased year by year. Most SFTS cases occurred in individuals aged between 40 years and 80 years (91.57%), but age distributions of SFTS cases in different years were significantly different and the median ages increased slightly year by year. The numbers of affected counties from 2011 to 2016 increased sharply from 98 to 167. Of note, the seasonal distributions of SFTS cases in different provinces were significantly different (Fisher = 712.157, P = 0.000) and provinces in south regions showed earlier epidemic peak and longer epidemics durations. The median time from illness onset to confirmation of different years was significantly different (χ2 = 896.088, P = 0.000) and it peaked in 2014. Furthermore, case fatality rate was associated with province, year, and age of SFTS cases. These results may be helpful for authorities to better preventive strategy and improve interventions against SFTS.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Annual numbers and incidences of SFTS cases in China from 2011 to 2016.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Geographical distribution of SFTS cases in China from 2011 to 2016. These maps were created by ArcGIS software (version 10.1, ESRI Inc.; Redlands, CA, USA). Homepage of ArcGIS software was https://www.esri.com/.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Seasonal distribution of SFTS cases in China from 2011 to 2016.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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