Extreme Precipitation and Climate-related Infectious Diseases in Taiwan (1994–2008)

Abstract

PP-30-079 Background/Aims: Events and intensities of extreme precipitation appeared to have increased over the recent time. Little characterization has been established between extreme precipitations and reporting climate-related infectious diseases in a subtropical region like Taiwan. Methods: The daily precipitation, temperature data, and registry data of infectious diseases, including intestinal, vector-borne, and flood-related infections, were integrated from 352 townships in Taiwan. The study period spanned from 1994 to 2008. The daily accumulated rainfall of more than 130 mm, 200 mm, and 350 mm was categorized as heavy rain, torrential rain, and extreme torrential rain, respectively. The relationship between level of precipitation and reporting cases of specific infectious diseases was analyzed with generalized additive mixed model and further mapped by geographical information system. Results: Preliminary suggested that increased precipitation was associated with the higher risk of reporting intestinal and flood-related infectious diseases. The daily accumulated rainfall up to 200–350 mm, the incidence of vector-borne infections would increase 2–10 folds; the same type of risk would, however, drop as the daily accumulated rainfall went more than 350 mm because the habitats of vectors could have been destroyed by extreme rainfall of this intensity. Conclusion: Changing patterns of precipitation were shown to affect the occurrence of climate-related infectious diseases in Taiwan. However, variation in distributions of medical resources or sanitary infrastructures would have to be taken into account in further analyses before concluding the relationship between the climatic changes and infectious epidemics.