Abstract:

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of public health emergencies in Anhui Province for scientific basis to formulate corresponding prevention and control strategies. Methods The closed public health emergencies reported in Anhui Province from January 2018 to December 2022 were retrieved from the subsystem of Public Health Emergency Management under the Information System for Disease Prevention and Control in China. Descriptive epidemiology was used to analyze the events concerning the grading, category, transmission route and distribution of the time, region and place. Results In total, 1 275 public health emergencies were reported in Anhui from 2018 to 2022, which involved 36 119 cases and 60 deaths. The events were mainly unclassified and at general scale, respectively accounting for 77.65% and 20.94% of the total reports. Infectious diseases were the major events (n=1 200, 94.12%), and respiratory infections were most seen, which accounted for 73.25% (879/1 200) of the total infections. COVID-19, chickenpox and influenza were the main types of infectious diseases reported, accounting for 29.33% (352/1 200), 26.75% (326/1 200) and 12.50% (150/1 200), respectively, followed by sudden incident of poisoning (66 events, 5.18%). Food poisoning most occurred (60.61%, 40/66). The major causes of deaths were involved in fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (8 cases, 13.33%), haemorrhagic fever (5 cases, 8.33%), accidental ingestion of wild poisonous mushrooms (4 cases, 6.67%) and aluminium phosphide poisoning (4 cases, 6.67%). Temporal distribution showed two peaks that primarily appeared from October to February, and the sub-peak was from April to June. By the number of the incidents reported, the top three cities were Hefei (145 events, 11.37%), Wuhu (138 events, 10.82%) and Ma'anshan (135 events, 10.59%). The sites with higher incidence of the events were schools and childcare institutions, with 764 events (59.92%) and 31 457 cases reported, chickenpox was most reported (321 events, 42.02%), followed by communities/natural villages and households, with 445 events and 3 621 cases reported, and cluster outbreak was associated with COVID-19 (251 events, 56.40%). There was a linear correlation between the timeliness of reporting and the duration of infectious disease and poisoning outbreaks (r_s=1.000, 0.998, both P<0.001). Conclusion Public health emergencies in Anhui Province are mainly involved in infectious diseases, and schools and childcare institutions are the key places for prevention and control. Meanwhile, it is necessary to strengthen the monitoring and early warning of public health emergencies such as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome and food poisoning, and reduce the death cases.

Key words: Public health emergency, Epidemiological characteristics, Surveillance, Anhui Province