Details:

Alternative Title:
Emerg Infect Dis
Publisher's site:
http://dx.doi.org/
Personal Author:
Dowell, Scott F. ; Whitney, Cynthia G. ; Wright, Carolyn ; Rose, Charles E. ; Schuchat, Anne
Dowell, Scott F. ; Whitney, Cynthia G. ; Wright, Carolyn ; Rose, Charles E. ; Schuchat, Anne Less -
Description:
Pneumococcal infections increase each winter, a phenomenon that has not been well explained. We conducted population-based active surveillance for all cases of invasive pneumococcal disease in seven states; plotted annualized weekly rates by geographic location, age, and latitude; and assessed correlations by time-series analysis. In all geographic areas, invasive pneumococcal disease exhibited a distinct winter seasonality, including an increase among children in the fall preceding that for adults and a sharp spike in incidence among adults each year between December 24 and January 7. Pneumococcal disease correlated inversely with temperature (r -0.82 with a 1-week lag; p<0.0001), but paradoxically the coldest states had the lowest rates, and no threshold temperature could be identified. The pattern of disease correlated directly with the sinusoidal variations in photoperiod (r +0.85 with a 5-week lag; p<0.0001). Seemingly unrelated seasonal phenomena were also somewhat correlated. The reproducible seasonal patterns in varied geographic locations are consistent with the hypothesis that nationwide seasonal changes such as photoperiod-dependent variation in host susceptibility may underlie pneumococcal seasonality, but caution is indicated in assigning causality as a result of such correlations.
Subject:
[+]
Adolescent
Adult
Child
Child, Preschool
Disease Susceptibility
Female
Humans
Incidence
Infant
Male
Photoperiod
Pneumococcal Infections
Population Surveillance
Rain
Research
Seasons
Temperature

Source:
Emerg Infect Dis. 9(5):574-579.
Pubmed ID:
12737741
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC2972762
Document Type:
Journal Article
Place as Subject:
United States
Collection(s):
Emerging Infectious Diseases
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:4ca556f89782a5f57ee356cd94993cb3a66076eae1263b38187fdf925d8b0c8a
File Type:

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