Epidemiology of hand foot and mouth disease in Dongying city in Shandong province,2008-2010

Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristics of hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Dongying and explore the scientific strategies and measures for the prevention and control of HFMD. Methods Descriptive epidemiological approaches were useed to analyze the HFMD surveillance data in Dongying from 2008 to 2010. Results A total of 7191 cases, without death, were reported during this period. The average annual incidence was 127.98/lakh. The differences on the incidences in different years were statistical significant (P=0.000). The disease epidemic occurred in all 5 counties (district), but the epidemic in Dongying district was most serious. The disease mainly occurred during May-August. The beginning of the epidemic shifted to an earlier data, the epidemic level increased and the incidence peak period prolonged compared with the previous year. Most cases were children aged 1-3 years. More males were affected than females. The interval between onset and diagnosis was 2 days for 29.97% of the cases. The major pathogen was EV71. Conclusion The incidence of HFMD had significant geographic, seasonal, sex-specific and age-specific differences and increased with years. It is necessary to conduct integrated prevention and control in child care settings where the disease is prone to occur, strengthen the disease surveillance and health education and improve the etiological detection to prevent the epidemic of HFMD.