EV71 Vaccination rate
A total of 1,653,533 people received the EV71 vaccine from 2016 through 2019 in Yunnan. The annual vaccination rate showed an upward trend during the study period and was steady at 80% above in 2018 and 2019. The cumulative EV71 vaccination coverage rate among eligible children (born from 2016 to 2019) was 68.14% between 2016 and 2019 (Table no. 1).
Table 1
The EV71 vaccination coverage rate in Yunnan Province, 2016-2019
Year
|
Number of people vaccinated
|
Population
|
Coverage rate
(%)
|
2016
|
192700
|
609001
|
31.64
|
2017
|
455630
|
594103
|
76.69
|
2018
|
471911
|
563405
|
83.76
|
2019
|
533292
|
660311
|
80.76
|
Cumulative
|
1653533
|
2426820
|
68.14
|
Incidence, Severity, and Fatality Rates of HFMD
From 2008 through 2019, a total of 763,863 HFMD cases were reported in the NNIDRS. Of these cases, 9,928 cases were diagnosed as severe and included 144 deaths. The incidence of reported HFMD cases showed an upward trend since the initiation of surveillance in 2008 and reached a peak of over 200 cases per 100,000 population-years in 2018 (Fig 1 A). Both the case severity rate (Fig 1 B) and case fatality rate (Fig 1 C) presented large fluctuations during 2008-2015. However, the two rates continued to show downward trends and remained at lower levels after 2016.
Seasonal Pattern
HFMD was prevalent throughout the year in Yunnan, there was a single peak in May in 2008 and 2009. Since 2010, annual epidemic waves with a major peak in the early summer (May) followed by a smaller peak in autumn (November) were observed. However, the scales of the autumn peaks in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 were smaller than those in the corresponding previous year (Fig 2).
Geographic Distribution
Of all cases reported, 324,822 (42.52%), 200,107 (26.20%), 160,773 (21.05%), and 78,161 (10.23%) cases were diagnosed from the central, southern, northwestern, and northeastern regions of the province during the surveillance period, respectively. Similar patterns of case geographic distribution were presented in each year. (Fig 3).
Characteristics of Age and Gender
There were 446,942 male and 316,921 female cases, as indicated by a male-to-female ratio of 1.41:1 among the reported cases. The proportions of case stratified by sex in each year are depicted by a pie graph (Fig 4 A). Males accounting for more than half of the cases were observed in each surveillance year. The distributions of age are shown by year and sex using box plots (Fig 4 B). The median age ranged from 2.3 to 2.9 years during the surveillance years.
Etiologic Composition
Laboratory tests confirmed 65,319 cases during 2008–2019, including 61,120 mild cases and 4,199 severe cases, of which 75 were fatalities. Among the laboratory-confirmed cases, 20,475 (31.35%), 22,586 (34.58%), and 22,258 (34.07%) cases were associated with EV71, CV-A16 and other enteroviruses, respectively (Fig 5 A). EV71 was the predominant serotype for mild cases in 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015. CV-A16 was the predominant serotype among mild cases in 2010, 2012 and 2014. However, since 2016, other enteroviruses occupied the largest proportion among mild cases annually (Fig 5 B). Most severe cases were caused by EV71. However, other enteroviruses have accounted for an increasing proportion of severe cases since 2013. In 2019, more than half of severe cases were associated with other enteroviruses (Fig 5 C). EV71 was the major pathogen among fatal cases. However, other enteroviruses and CV-A16 were the predominant serotypes among fatal cases in 2017 and 2019, respectively (Fig 5 D).
Changes in HFMD epidemiology before and after EV71 vaccine introduction
Compared to the pre-EV71 vaccine introduction period (2013-2015), there was no significant change in the gender composition among HFMD cases in the post-EV71 vaccine introduction period (2017-2019). The median age (2.5 years, IQR: 1.6–4.0) of cases during the post-vaccine period was significantly higher than that (2.3 months, IQR: 1.5, 3.6) of cases during the pre-vaccine period. The number of cases decreased evidently among the age groups of under 3 years. All four regions of the province had an increase in the number of cases. More evident increasing trends were observed in the southern, northeastern, and northwestern areas. However, severe and fatal cases showed a significant decrease during the post-vaccine period. The proportion of HFMD cases caused by non-EV71/non-CV-A16 enteroviruses increased significantly. EV71-associated cases sharply decreased during the post-vaccine period (Table no. 2).
Table 2
Comparison of epidemiological characteristics between before (2013-2015) and after (2017-2019) introduction of EV71 vaccines in Yunnan Province
Items
|
Pre-vaccine introduction
(2013-2015)
n=224246
|
Post-vaccine introduction
(2017-2019)
n=277731
|
X2 test
P value
|
Sex
|
|
|
0.09
|
Female
|
93731 (41.80)
|
116755 (42.04)
|
|
Male
|
130515 (58.20)
|
160976 (57.96)
|
|
Age
|
|
|
<0.01
|
0-0.5
|
2831 (1.26)
|
2909 (1.05)
|
|
0.6-2.9
|
134097 (59.80)
|
157810 (56.82)
|
|
3-6.9
|
78990 (35.22)
|
104597 (37.66)
|
|
7-14.9
|
7655 (3.41)
|
11223 (4.04)
|
|
≥15
|
673 (0.30)
|
1192 (0.43)
|
|
Median (IQR)
|
2.3 (1.5, 3.6)
|
2.5 (1.6, 4.0)
|
<0.01a
|
Area
|
|
|
<0.01
|
Central
|
95185 (42.45)
|
104454 (37.61)
|
|
Northeastern
|
22449 (10.01)
|
33311 (11.99)
|
|
Northwestern
|
49057 (21.88)
|
62432 (22.48)
|
|
Southern
|
57555 (25.67)
|
77534 (27.92)
|
|
Case classification
|
|
|
<0.01
|
Mild
|
220184 (98.19)
|
275995 (99.37)
|
|
Severe
|
4026 (1.80)
|
1724 (0.62)
|
|
Death
|
36(0.02)
|
12 (0.01)
|
|
Pathogen
|
|
|
<0.01
|
EV71
|
8642 (44.34)
|
3239 (14.41)
|
|
CV-A16
|
6078 (31.19)
|
6307 (28.06)
|
|
Others
|
4769 (24.47)
|
12929 (57.53)
|
|
IQR, interquartile range.
aRank sum test.
|