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. 2021 Jun 5;10(1):82.
doi: 10.1186/s40249-021-00862-z.

Prevalence and spatial distribution patterns of human echinococcosis at the township level in Sichuan Province, China

Wei He  1 , Li-Ying Wang  2   3 , Wen-Jie Yu  1 , Guang-Jia Zhang  1 , Bo Zhong  1 , Sha Liao  1 , Qi Wang  1 , Rui-Rui Li  1 , Liu Yang  1 , Ren-Xin Yao  1 , Yang Liu  1 , Zeli Danba  4 , Sheng-Chao Qin  5 , Shi-An Wang  6 , Yan-Xia Wang  7 , Yan Huang  8 , Qian Wang  9
Affiliations

Prevalence and spatial distribution patterns of human echinococcosis at the township level in Sichuan Province, China

Wei He et al. Infect Dis Poverty. .

Abstract

Background: Echinococcosis is a global zoonotic parasitic disease caused by Echinococcus larvae. This disease is highly endemic in Sichuan Province, China. This study investigates the prevalence and spatial distribution characteristics of human echinococcosis at the township level in Sichuan Province, geared towards providing a future reference for the development of precise prevention and control strategies.

Methods: Human prevalence of echinococcosis was evaluated using the B-ultrasonography diagnostic method in Sichuan Province between 2016 and 2019. All data were collected, collated, and analyzed. A spatial distribution map was drawn to intuitively analyze the spatial distribution features. Eventually, the spatial autocorrelation was specified and local indicators of spatial association (LISA) clustering map was drawn to investigate the spatial aggregation of echinococcosis at the township level in Sichuan Province.

Results: The prevalence of echinococcosis in humans of Sichuan Province was 0.462%, among which the occurrence of cystic echinococcosis (CE) was 0.221%, while that of alveolar echinococcosis (AE) was 0.244%. Based on the results of the spatial distribution map, a predominance of echinococcosis in humans decreased gradually from west to east and from north to south. The Global Moran's I index was 0.77 (Z = 32.07, P < 0.05), indicating that the prevalence of echinococcosis in humans was spatially clustered, exhibiting a significant spatial positive correlation. Further, the findings of local spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed that the "high-high" concentration areas were primarily located in some townships in the northwest of Sichuan Province. However, the "low-low" concentration areas were predominantly located in some townships in the southeast of Sichuan Province.

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated that the prevalence of echinococcosis in humans of Sichuan Province follows a downward trend, suggesting that the current prevention and control work has achieved substantial outcomes. Nevertheless, the prevalence in humans at the township level is widely distributed and differs significantly, with a clear clustering in space. Therefore, precise prevention and control strategies should be formulated for clusters, specifically strengthening the "high-high" clusters at the township level.

Keywords: China; Echinococcosis; Prevalence; Sichuan; Spatial autocorrelation.

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Conflict of interest statement

All of the authors declared that they had no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Map of townships for echinococcosis screening in Sichuan Province
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The comparison of the prevalence of cystic echinococcosis and alveolar echinococcosis in 2012 and 2016–2019. AE alveolar echinococcosis, CE cystic echinococcosis
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Distribution of the prevalence of echinococcosis in Sichuan Province. a Distribution of cystic echinococcosis; b Distribution of alveolar echinococcosis; c Distribution of total prevalence of echinococcosis. AE alveolar echinococcosis, CE cystic echinococcosis
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Local indicators of spatial association (LISA) clustering map of new prevalence of echinococcosis in the rural population of Sichuan Province. a LISA cluster map of CE. b LISA cluster map of AE. c LISA cluster map of total prevalence of echinococcosis
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