Evaluating the spatial and temporal patterns of the severe fever thrombocytopenia syndrome in Republic of Korea

Submitted: 19 March 2021
Accepted: 27 May 2021
Published: 3 November 2021
Abstract Views: 1896
PDF: 513
HTML: 50
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a new infectious disease with a high mortality rate and increased incidence in Republic of Korea since the first case was reported in 2013. The average mortality rate varies by region and year but remains high in Asia. This study aimed to evaluate the spatial and temporal patterns of SFTS cases reported to the national Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). We analysed the spatial and temporal distribution of SFTS and observed changes in areas vulnerable to the disease. We analysed data concerning 1086 confirmed SFTS patients from 2013 to 2019 categorized according to the 247 district level administrative units. To better understand the epidemiology of SFTS, we carried out spatiotemporal analyses on a yearly basis and also calculated and mapped spatial clusters of domestic SFTS by global (regional) and local Moran's indices. To observe the annual changes in SFTS incidence rate, scan statistics for each city and district were calculated. The incidence rate showed significant clustering in specific regions, which reoccurred annually in some regions. In Republic of Korea, SFTS clusters have been expanding into the southern regions, with annual clusters concentrated between May and October. This pattern allows prediction of SFTS occurrences through spatiotemporal analysis, which makes it possible to guide measures of disease prevention.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Andresen MA, 2011. Estimating the probability of local crime clusters: the impact of immediate spatial neighbors. J Crim Justice 39:394-404. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2011.05.005
Anselin L, 1995. Local indicators of spatial association-LISA. Wiley Online Library 27:93-115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1538-4632.1995.tb00338.x
Desjardins MR, Hohl A, Delmelle EM, 2020. Rapid surveillance of COVID-19 in the United States using a prospective space-time scan statistic: detecting and evaluating emerging clusters. Appl Geogr 118:102202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2020.102202
Ding F, Zhang W, Wang L, Hu W, Soares Magalhaes RJ, Sun H, Zhou H, Sha S, Li S, Liu Q, Li Q, 2013. Epidemiologic features of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in China, 2011-2012. Clin Infect Dis 56:1682-3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cit100
Greenwood KP, Reid SA, 2020. Clustering of cryptosporidiosis in Queensland, Australia, is not defined temporally or by spatial diversity. Int J Parasitol 50:209-16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2019.11.010
Guo CT, Lu QB, Ding SJ, Hu CY, Hu JG, Wo Y, Fan YD, Wang XJ, Qin SL, Cui N, Yang ZD, 2016. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) in China: an integrated data analysis. Epidemiol Infect 144:1345-54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268815002678
Han J, Lee M, 2016. Cancer cluster detection using scan statistic. J Korean Data Inf Sci Soc 27:1193-1201. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7465/jkdi.2016.27.5.1193
Kandwal R, Garg PK, Garg RD, 2009. Health GIS and HIV/AIDS studies: perspective and retrospective. J Biomed Inform 42:748-55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2009.04.008
KDCA, 2016. Recommendation for medical care guidelines for severe acute thrombocytopenia syndrome [in Korean]. [cited 2020]. Available from: http://www.kdca.go.kr/npt/biz/npp/portal/nppPblctDtaView.do?pblctDtaSeAt=8&pblctDtaSn=820
Kulldorff M, 2018. Software for the spatial and space-time scan statistics. Kulldorff and Harvard Medical School, Boston and Information Management Services Inc. (2018). SaTScanâ„¢v9.6. Available from: http://www.satscan.org/ Accessed: 1 July 2018.
Liu K, Zhou H, Sun RX, Yao HW, Li Y, Wang LP, Mu D, Li XL, Yang Y, Gray GC, Cui N, 2015. A national assessment of the epidemiology of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, China. Sci Rep 5:9679. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep09679
Liu Q, He B, Huang SY, Wei F, Zhu XQ, 2014. Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, an emerging tick-borne zoonosis. Lancet Infect Dis 14:763-72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(14)70718-2
Li Z, Hu J, Cui L, Hong Y, Liu J, Li P, Guo X, Liu W, Wang X, Qi X, Wu B, 2017. Increased prevalence of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in Eastern China clustered with multiple genotypes and reasserted virus during 2010-2015. Sci Rep 7:6503. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06853-1
McMullan LK, Folk SM, Kelly AJ, MacNeil A, Goldsmith CS, Metcalfe MG, Batten BC, Albariño CG, Zaki SR, Rollin PE, Nicholson WL, 2012. A new phlebovirus associated with severe febrile illness in Missouri. N Engl J Med 367:834-41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1203378
Miao D, Dai K, Zhao GP, Li XL, Shi WQ, Zhang JS, Yang Y, Liu W, Fang LQ, 2020. Mapping the global potential transmission hotspots for severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome by machine learning methods. Emerg Microbes Infect 9:817-26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2020.1748521
Oh WS, Heo ST, Kim SH, Choi WJ, Han MG, Kim JY, 2014. Plasma exchange and ribavirin for rapidly progressive severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. Int J Infect Dis 18:84-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2013.08.011
Seo CW, Kim JH, Kim EY, Lee SE, Park HK, 2018. Epidemiological characteristics of patients with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in Republic of Korea in 2017. Public Health Weekly Report KCDC 11:698-706.
Souza EC, Santos ES, Rosa AM, Botelho C, 2019. Space-time scan for identification of risk areas for hospitalization of children due to asthma in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Rev Bras Epidemiol 22:e190019.
Sun J, Lu L, Wu H, Yang J, Ren J, Liu Q, 2017. The changing epidemiological characteristics of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in China, 2011-2016.Sci Rep 7:9236. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08042-6
Sun JM, Wu HX, Lu L, Liu Y, Mao ZY, Ren JP, Yao WW, Qu HH, Liu QY, 2020. Factors associated with spatial distribution of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. Sci Total Environ [Epub ahead of print]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141522
Takahashi T, Maeda K, Suzuki T, Ishido A, Shigeoka T, Tominaga T, Kamei T, Honda M, Ninomiya D, Sakai T, Senba T, 2014. The first identification and retrospective study of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in Japan. J Infect Dis 209:816-27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jit603
Yoo JR, Heo ST, 2018. Strategies against severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome increasing in Korea. Korean J Blood Transfus 29:117-29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17945/kjbt.2018.29.2.117
You E, Wang L, Zhang L, Wu J, Zhao K, Huang, F, 2020. Epidemiological characteristics of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome in Hefei of Anhui Province: a population-based surveillance study from 2011 to 2018. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis [Epub ahead of print]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-020-04098-x
Yun SM, Park SJ, Kim YI, Park SW, Yu MA, Kwon HI, Kim EH, Yu KM, Jeong HW, Ryou J, Lee WJ, Jee Y, Lee JY, Choi YK, 2020. Genetic and pathogenic diversity of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) in South Korea. JCI Insight 5:e129531. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.129531
Yu XJ, Liang MF, Zhang SY, Liu Y, Li JD, Sun YL, Zhang L, Zhang QF, Popov VL, Li C, Qu J, 2011. Fever with thrombocytopenia associated with a novel bunyavirus in China. N Engl J Med 364:1523-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1010095

How to Cite

Park, S., Nam, H.-S., & Na, B.-J. (2021). Evaluating the spatial and temporal patterns of the severe fever thrombocytopenia syndrome in Republic of Korea. Geospatial Health, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.4081/gh.2021.994