Seasonal Patterns of Japanese Encephalitis and Associated Meteorological Factors in Taiwan

Che-Liang Lin, Hsiao-Ling Chang, Chuan-Yao Lin and Kow-Tong Chen
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Che-Liang Lin: Internal Medicine Chest Division, Chi-Mei Medical Center, Liouying, Tainan 736, Taiwan
Hsiao-Ling Chang: Division of Infection Control and Biosafety, Centers for Disease Control, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei 104, Taiwan
Chuan-Yao Lin: Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, 115, Taiwan
Kow-Tong Chen: Department of Occupational Medicine, Tainan Municipal Hospital (Managed by Show Chwan Medical Care Corporation), Tainan 701, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-12

Abstract: The persistent transmission of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) in Taiwan necessitates exploring the risk factors of occurrence of Japanese encephalitis (JE). The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between meteorological factors and the incidence of JE in Taiwan. We collected data for cases of JE reported to the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) from 2000 to 2014. Meteorological data were obtained from the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau. The relationships between weather variability and the incidence of JE in Taiwan were determined via Poisson regression analysis and a case-crossover methodology. During the 15-year study period, a total of 379 cases of JE were reported. The incidence of JE showed significant seasonality, with the majority of cases occurring in summertime (for oscillation, p < 0.001). The number of JE cases started to increase at temperatures of 22 °C (r 2 = 0.88, p < 0.001). Similarly, the number of JE cases began to increase at a relative humidity of 70–74% (r 2 = 0.75, p < 0.005). The number of JE cases was positively associated with mean temperature and relative humidity in the period preceding the infection. In conclusion, the occurrence of JE is significantly associated with increasing temperature and relative humidity in Taiwan. Therefore, these factors could be regarded as warning signals indicating the need to implement preventive measures.

Keywords: infectious diseases; climate; modeling; mosquito (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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