Abstract:

Objective To analyze the occurrence regularity and characteristics of public health emergencies in schools in Changsha City for scientific basis for urgent response to public health emergencies in schools. Methods The public health emergencies in schools reported in Changsha from 2012 to 2022 were obtained from the subsystem of Public Health Emergency Management under the Information System for Disease Prevention and Control in China, and descriptively investigated regarding the number of the emergencies, grades, categories, the number of patients, distribution of time and places. Results In total, 293 public health emergencies in schools were reported in Changsha from 2012 to 2022, which involved 14 416 cases. No death occurred. Of the emergencies, 179 were in grade Ⅳ, and 114 ungraded. No grade Ⅲ or above emergency was reported. In the 293 emergencies, 288 were associated with infectious disease, one was involved in poisoning, and 4 were associated with other public health emergency, with 14 320 cases reported. In the school infectious disease incident, the top three events were varicella (35.07%，101/288), mumps (28.13%，81/288), and influenza (21.53%，62/288), yet the top three of the incidence number was influenza (38.16%，5 464/14 320), mumps (27.14%，3 886/14 320), and varicella (22.47%，3 217/14 320). Two peaks appeared in April-May and November-December throughout the year. The emergencies were most reported in primary schools, followed by kindergartens and junior high schools, respectively accounting for 72.01% (211/293), 10.92% (32/293) and 9.22% (27/293) of the total events reported in schools. Liuyang City ranked the first in the number of reported emergencies and incidences, accounting respectively for 43.00% (126/293) and 37.37% (5 387/14 416) of the total number of school reports. The number of reported emergencies and incidences was the lowest in Furong District, which respectively accounted for 2.05% (6/293) and 0.90% (130/14 416) of the total reports. Conclusion Infectious diseases associated with respiratory system should be responsible for the public health emergencies in schools in Changsha, and primary schools appears to be most affected. The findings suggest that targeted measures should be developed in the prevention and control efforts, and vaccination shall be expanded in order to reduce the occurrence of public health emergencies in school campus.

Key words: School, Public health emergency, Infectious diseases, Epidemiological characteristics, Changsha City