Epidemiology of hand foot and mouth disease in Zhejiang, 2008-2015

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Zhejiang province, and provide evidence for the prevention and control of HFMD. Methods The incidence data of HFMD in Zhejiang during 2008-2015 were collected from National Notifiable Infectious Disease Reporting System. The data analysis and descriptive epidemiological analysis were conducted with Excel 2007 and R 3.2.3. Case clustering analysis was performed with software Arcgis 10.0, and software SAS 9.2 was used to analyze the major characteristics of severe HFMD cases and deaths. Results A total of 875 945 HFMD cases were reported during this period with annual fluctuant increasing trend and double incidence peaks in April and July. More cases occurred in Wenzhou of southern Zhejiang. The children under 5 years old were mostly affected. The incidence rate in males was higher than that in females. Other enteroviruses had become the major pathogens instead of EV71 and Cox A16. Severe cases were more likely to occur in males, those aged 5 years, lived in urban area and infected with EV71, and HFMD related deaths were more likely to occur in those who were aged 2 years and infected with EV71. Conclusion HFMD widely occurred in Zhejiang, therefore, it is still necessary to strengthen HFMD surveillance, especially the etiological surveillance, and HFMD prevention/control through health education and vaccination for populations at high risk.