TY - JOUR
T1 - Characteristics of geographical spread and temporal accumulation of the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) epidemic in Japan based on National Surveillance data
AU - Ohta, Akiko
AU - Hashimoto, Shuji
AU - Murakami, Yoshitaka
AU - Kawado, Miyuki
AU - Taniguchi, Kiyosu
AU - Tada, Yuki
AU - Shigematsu, Mika
AU - Nagai, Masaki
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - This study aimed to describe the geographical spread and temporal accumulation of cases during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) epidemic in Japan. Using a method adopted by the National Epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Diseases (NESID) to identify epidemics, we described the frequency and temporal change of the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) epidemic among designated public health center areas in Japan. We calculated the proportion of public health center areas with an epidemic by week from 1999 to 2010. The 2009 influenza A (H1N1) epidemic had several distinguishing features compared with previous seasonal influenza epidemics. For example, the 2009 epidemic started in autumn and peaked at week 49, almost 10 weeks earlier than that of previous seasonal influenza epidemics. Additionally, the 2009 epidemic had the highest total number of public health center areas reporting an epidemic within a season, but only the second highest proportion of areas with an epidemic in the peak week (78.5%). The duration of the epidemic was 17 weeks, which was longer than that of previous epidemics. The present study results shed light on the epidemiology of the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic and provide useful information to create strategies to prevent future pandemics.
AB - This study aimed to describe the geographical spread and temporal accumulation of cases during the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) epidemic in Japan. Using a method adopted by the National Epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Diseases (NESID) to identify epidemics, we described the frequency and temporal change of the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) epidemic among designated public health center areas in Japan. We calculated the proportion of public health center areas with an epidemic by week from 1999 to 2010. The 2009 influenza A (H1N1) epidemic had several distinguishing features compared with previous seasonal influenza epidemics. For example, the 2009 epidemic started in autumn and peaked at week 49, almost 10 weeks earlier than that of previous seasonal influenza epidemics. Additionally, the 2009 epidemic had the highest total number of public health center areas reporting an epidemic within a season, but only the second highest proportion of areas with an epidemic in the peak week (78.5%). The duration of the epidemic was 17 weeks, which was longer than that of previous epidemics. The present study results shed light on the epidemiology of the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic and provide useful information to create strategies to prevent future pandemics.
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U2 - 10.7883/yoken.67.368
DO - 10.7883/yoken.67.368
M3 - Article
C2 - 25241687
AN - SCOPUS:84907265015
VL - 67
SP - 368
EP - 373
JO - Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases
JF - Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases
SN - 1344-6304
IS - 5
ER -