Epidemic characteristics of tsutsugamushi disease in Bao'an District,Shenzhen from 2006 to 2023

LUO Jianfeng; ZENG Quanwei; CHEN Yixiong; HUANG Zhenyu; LI Yuan

doi:10.19821/j.1671-2781.2025.02.014

Abstract：Objective To investigate the spatial and temporal distribution and epidemiological characteristics of tsutsugamushi disease in Bao'an District,Shenzhen from 2006 to 2023.Methods A total of 205 cases of tsutsugamushi disease reported in Bao'an District from 2006 to 2023 in the online direct reporting system of infectious diseases were taken as the research objects,and the regression analysis was carried out by Joinpoint v5.2.0 software,and the annual percentage change(APC)and average annual percentage change(AAPC)were calculated.SaTScan v10.2.1 software was used to analyze the spatiotemporal aggregation,and the log-likelihood ratio(LLR)inside and outside the window was calculated.Results From 2006 to 2023,the incidence rate of tsutsugamushi disease in Bao'an District increased from 0.016/100 000 to 0.164/100 000 from 2008 to 2013(APC=56.34％,t=2.98,P=0.015),and from 0.164/100 000 to 0.577/100 000 from 2013 to 2023(APC=11.68％,t=3.10,P=0.013).The spatio-temporal scan showed that the Class Ⅰ gathering areas were Xixiang Street,Xin'an Street,Hangcheng Street and Fuyong Street,and the gathering time was from May 1,2016 to November 30,2023(LLR=72.76,RR=5.66,P<0.001).The lowest age of onset was 11 months old and the highest was 73 years old,with the largest number of cases in people aged 51-60 years,accounting for 22.44％(46/205).Household chores and unemployed occupations were the main occupations,accounting for 35.61％(73/205).Conclusion In the past 18 years,the epidemic of tsutsugamushi disease in Bao'an District has been sporadic and has shown an upward trend as a whole,with a high incidence in summer,and there are spatiotemporal clusters in 4 streets from May to November,and the high-risk groups are middle-aged people,housekeepers and unemployed people.