Effect of Meteorological and Geographical Factors on the Epidemics of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Island-Type Territory, East Asia
Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) has threatened East Asia for more than three decades and has become an important public health issue owing to its severe sequelae and mortality among children. The lack of effective treatment and vaccine for HFMD highlights the urgent need for efficiently integra...
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doaj-f43f0b09897848c79c476f77ed8059152020-11-24T21:18:05ZengHindawi LimitedBioMed Research International2314-61332314-61412015-01-01201510.1155/2015/805039805039Effect of Meteorological and Geographical Factors on the Epidemics of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Island-Type Territory, East AsiaChang-Chun David Lee0Jia-Hong Tang1Jing-Shiang Hwang2Mika Shigematsu3Ta-Chien Chan4Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, TaiwanInstitute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, TaiwanInstitute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, TaiwanNational Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640, JapanResearch Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, TaiwanHand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) has threatened East Asia for more than three decades and has become an important public health issue owing to its severe sequelae and mortality among children. The lack of effective treatment and vaccine for HFMD highlights the urgent need for efficiently integrated early warning surveillance systems in the region. In this study, we try to integrate the available surveillance and weather data in East Asia to elucidate possible spatiotemporal correlations and weather conditions among different areas from low to high latitude. The general additive model (GAM) was applied to understand the association between HFMD and latitude, as well as meteorological factors for islands in East Asia, namely, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, from 2012 to 2014. The results revealed that latitude was the most important explanatory factor associated with the timing and amplitude of HFMD epidemics (P<0.0001). Meteorological factors including higher dew point, lower visibility, and lower wind speed were significantly associated with the rise of epidemics (P<0.01). In summary, weather conditions and geographic location could play some role in affecting HFMD epidemics. Regional integrated surveillance of HFMD in East Asia is needed for mitigating the disease risk.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/805039 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Chang-Chun David Lee Jia-Hong Tang Jing-Shiang Hwang Mika Shigematsu Ta-Chien Chan |
spellingShingle |
Chang-Chun David Lee Jia-Hong Tang Jing-Shiang Hwang Mika Shigematsu Ta-Chien Chan Effect of Meteorological and Geographical Factors on the Epidemics of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Island-Type Territory, East Asia BioMed Research International |
author_facet |
Chang-Chun David Lee Jia-Hong Tang Jing-Shiang Hwang Mika Shigematsu Ta-Chien Chan |
author_sort |
Chang-Chun David Lee |
title |
Effect of Meteorological and Geographical Factors on the Epidemics of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Island-Type Territory, East Asia |
title_short |
Effect of Meteorological and Geographical Factors on the Epidemics of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Island-Type Territory, East Asia |
title_full |
Effect of Meteorological and Geographical Factors on the Epidemics of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Island-Type Territory, East Asia |
title_fullStr |
Effect of Meteorological and Geographical Factors on the Epidemics of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Island-Type Territory, East Asia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effect of Meteorological and Geographical Factors on the Epidemics of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Island-Type Territory, East Asia |
title_sort |
effect of meteorological and geographical factors on the epidemics of hand, foot, and mouth disease in island-type territory, east asia |
publisher |
Hindawi Limited |
series |
BioMed Research International |
issn |
2314-6133 2314-6141 |
publishDate |
2015-01-01 |
description |
Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) has threatened East Asia for more than three decades and has become an important public health issue owing to its severe sequelae and mortality among children. The lack of effective treatment and vaccine for HFMD highlights the urgent need for efficiently integrated early warning surveillance systems in the region. In this study, we try to integrate the available surveillance and weather data in East Asia to elucidate possible spatiotemporal correlations and weather conditions among different areas from low to high latitude. The general additive model (GAM) was applied to understand the association between HFMD and latitude, as well as meteorological factors for islands in East Asia, namely, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, from 2012 to 2014. The results revealed that latitude was the most important explanatory factor associated with the timing and amplitude of HFMD epidemics (P<0.0001). Meteorological factors including higher dew point, lower visibility, and lower wind speed were significantly associated with the rise of epidemics (P<0.01). In summary, weather conditions and geographic location could play some role in affecting HFMD epidemics. Regional integrated surveillance of HFMD in East Asia is needed for mitigating the disease risk. |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/805039 |
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