Epidemiology of visceral leishmaniasis before and after the Wenchuan earthquake in Longnan City,China,2005-2013 / 中国人兽共患病学报

ABSTRACT

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a parasitic disease ,which is still endemic in western China .An earthquake struck south-western China on May 12th ,2008 ,which affected Longnan City of Gansu Province considerably .The objective of this survey is to determine the effect of the Wenchuan earthquake on the Kala-azar epidemic in Longnan City .In this study ,VL cases were collected from 2005 to 2013 and diagnosed on positive test for anti-rK39IgG antibodies by the Kala-azar Detect rK39 dip-stick (InBios ,USA) .The incidence rates were calculated among various counties of Longnan City with SPSS 19 .0 soft-ware .The epidemiological characteristics of the disease were analyzed before and after the Wenchuan earthquake .From 2005 to 2013 ,there were 825 VL cases in Longnan City ,with an annual incidence of 3 .36/100 000 and a significantly higher incidence in males than that in females (P＜ 0 .001) .All age groups were affected .During this period ,there was an obvious upward trend from 2005 to 2008 ,and a distinct downward tendency since 2010 .The incidences of VL between 2008 and 2010 were sig-nificantly different with that in other years (P＜0 .01) .Results revealed that VL was widespread in Longnan City ,which was likely exacerbated by the earthquake in 2008 .Earthquake created diverse natural environment and social circumstances ,w hich may contribute to the spread of the VL epidemic .Together ,our data strongly suggest that the epidemic of VL should be close-ly monitored after earthquake .