A Case-control Study of Risk Sources for Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome in Hubei Province, China.
Paraules clau
Resum
BACKGROUND
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), an emerging infectious disease caused by a novel bunyavirus, was discovered in rural areas of Central China in 2009.
METHODS
A case-control study based on hospital data was applied to detect the potential risk sources for SFTS in SFTS-endemic counties in Hubei Province. Cases were defined as hospitalized SFTSV confirmed patients. Controls were randomly selected from non-SFTSV patients in the same hospital ward within 2 weeks of inclusion of the cases, and they were matched by age (+/- 5 years) and gender according to 1:2 matching condition.
RESULTS
68 cases and 136 controls participated in this study. In multivariate analysis, "Contact with cattle tick" was the major risk source (Conditional Logistic Regression OR-MH=8.62, 95% CI=1.79-41.51), outdoor activities and working in weeds or hillside fields could increase risk of cattle tick contact and SFTS infection (Conditional Logistic Regression OR-MH=8.82, 95% CI=1.69-46.05, P value=0.01).
CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggested cattle might be dominant hosts in SFTS-endemic regions in Hubei Province, which provided clues to transmission mechanism of "vectors, host animals, and humans", thus more effectively preventing and controlling the disease.
