Acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis outbreak in China

Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristics and outbreak causes of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) in China and provide scientific evidence for the control of AHC. Methods Epidemiological analysis was conducted on the surveillance data of AHC reported in China. Etiological analysis was conducted for 10% of AHC outbreaks selected through randomly systematic sampling. Results Most AHC outbreaks were caused by Cox 24v, followed by EV70, adenovirus and other viruses, since 1971. From 2005 to 2012,two incidence peaks of AHC were recorded in 2007 and 2010 respectively. The annual incidence peak was during August-October. The disease affected all age groups. The male to female ratio of the cases was 1.43:1. The first 5 provinces (municipality) reporting high incidences were Guangxi, Guangdong, Chongqing, Sichuan and Hubei. From 2005 to 2012,428 AHC outbreaks were reported, which mainly occurred in schools and factories. The outbreaks were related with the contagiousness of the disease, crowd environment, poor school infrastructure and life habit, and non strict index patient management. Conclusion The incidence of AHC was stable in China from 2005 to 2012 despite 2 incidence peaks in 2007 and 2010. It is necessary to strengthen the surveillance for AHC, conduct health education and improve public health emergency response to prevent the outbreak of AHC.