Abstract
BackgroundHuman brucellosis incidence in China has been increasing dramatically since 1999. However, epidemiological features and potential factors underlying the re-emergence of the disease remain less understood.MethodsData on human and animal brucellosis cases at the county scale were collected for the year 2004 to 2010. Also collected were environmental and socioeconomic variables. Epidemiological features including spatial and temporal patterns of the disease were characterized, and the potential factors related to the spatial heterogeneity and the temporal trend of were analysed using Poisson regression analysis, Granger causality analysis, and autoregressive distributed lag (ADL) models, respectively.ResultsThe epidemic showed a significantly higher spatial correlation with the number of sheep and goats than swine and cattle. The disease was most prevalent in grassland areas with elevation between 800–1,600 meters. The ADL models revealed that local epidemics were correlated with comparatively lower temperatures and less sunshine in winter and spring, with a 1–7 month lag before the epidemic peak in May.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that human brucellosis tended to occur most commonly in grasslands at moderate elevation where sheep and goats were the predominant livestock, and in years with cooler winter and spring or less sunshine.
Highlights
Human brucellosis incidence in China has been increasing dramatically since 1999
Our findings indicate that human brucellosis tended to occur most commonly in grasslands at moderate elevation where sheep and goats were the predominant livestock, and in years with cooler winter and spring or less sunshine
The annual incidence had sharply increased by approximately 4 times from 0.63 to 2.72 per 100,000 person years during the 7-year period, and the monthly incidence showed a significant seasonal pattern peaking in the spring and summer season, especially in the month of May each year (Figure 1). 74.59% of all reported cases occurred in males, and males had a significantly higher incidence than females in all age groups (p value < 0.001)
Summary
Human brucellosis incidence in China has been increasing dramatically since 1999. epidemiological features and potential factors underlying the re-emergence of the disease remain less understood. Brucellosis is a zoonosis caused by bacteria of the Brucella spp. B. melitensis, B. abortus, B. suis and B. canis often cause abortion and infertility in these natural hosts [4,8,9,10,11]. Brucellosis has a worldwide distribution in both humans and animals with the exception of several industrialized countries, causing tremendous health and economic burden [14]. Governmental and health agencies of affected countries have made extensive efforts e to control brucellosis primarily through the culling of infected animals and regulations for safe disposal of infected material [15,16]. Human brucellosis has taken a heavy toll on the health and economy of countries affected and it must still be regarded as a serious worldwide public health problem
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