Risk assessment of public health emergency and concerned infectious diseases in China, June 2013

Objective Assess the risk of public health emergency and concerned infectious diseases in China, June 2013. Methods Semi-structured interviews and discussions among subject matter experts based on surveillance data and public institute bulletins, et al. Results The trend and level of national public health emergency from January to May 2013, were similar as the same period of 2012, and lower than the average of 20052011. National notifiable infectious diseases from January to May 2013 were lower than the same period of 2012 by 11%, but measles, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) were still be at high level. June 2013 will be at a high frequency of emergent public health events throughout the year, but the level should be lower than in April and May 2013. June 2013 would be the high epidemic season for intestinal infectious diseases and insect-borne infectious disease. There might be still a few scattered cases of human infection with influenza A(H7N9); the overall level of HFMD would still be at high level; the cholera could not rule out the possibility of local outbreaks; imported cases of dengue and malaria will still be the dominant of the total cases; measles, and HFRS had past their peak seasons. Food poisoning events may by still on the rise. Since May 2013, the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) cases had been significantly increasing, and the countries and regions with reporting cases had widened.Conclusion It is expected that the national public health emergencies and epidemic situation of infectious diseases in June 2013, would be similar as the June before. We need to strengthen surveillance and preparedness for MERS, H7N9, HFMD and food poisoning.