Seasonality of Primarily Childhood and Young Adult Infectious Diseases in the United States

Abstract

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States collects and maintains records of communicable (so-called notifiable) infectious diseases that cause significant morbidity and mortality and impact the national economy. This investigation focused on seasonal patterns in the primarily childhood and young adult infectious diseases of meningococcal meningitis, mumps, pertussis, typhoid fever, streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (1990 to 2003 CDC database), and varicella (1993 to 2003 CDC database). Linear regression was performed to ascertain the trend in the incidence of each disease, and multi-component cosinor analysis was applied to determine and describe periodicities. Significant decreasing trends in incidence were detected in meningococcal meningitis, mumps, typhoid fever, and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, and increasing trends were found in pertussis and varicella. Significant annual patterns were documented in meningococcal meningitis (January peak), mumps (April peak), pertussis (August peak), varicella (April peak), typhoid fever (August peak), and in the hospital-acquired streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (February peak). Such seasonal patterns and long-term trends in infectious diseases are of practical public health significance in indicating which can benefit from timely prevention interventions.

Recent Change in the Annual Pattern of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States

“…have focused primarily on 24 h and/or seasonal variation in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (Gallerani et al, 2007;Manfredini et al, 2005aManfredini et al, , 2005bMehta et al, 2005) and annual patterns in common communicable infectious diseases that primarily affect young school children (Shah et al, 2006). This study examined the cyclic variation and time trends in the incidence of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis in recent years using the SAS Proc MIXED general linear model.…”

The relationship between meteorological factors and mumps incidence in Guangzhou, China, 2005–2012:

“…15,16 Seasonality in mumps incidence has been observed in some countries. For example, a significant annual pattern was documented in mumps incidence (April peak) in the United States, 17 and in Iowa, the peak of the outbreaks occurred in the spring of 2006 in April. 18 However, in China, the peaks were in winter and spring.…”

The association between the incidence of mumps and meteorological parameters in Taiwan

“…For example, a distinct seasonal variation was detected in the USA, with a peak occurring in April. 9 Other countries such as Ireland, 10 China, 11,12 and Jordan 13 a peak in autumn, early-summer, winter and spring, respectively was also reported. Although these phenomena have not been well explained, the seasonality of mumps provides evidence that meteorological factors might play a key role in its occurrence.…”