Objectives: This article aims to quantify the relationship between weather variations and bacillary dysentery in Jinan, a city in northern China with a temperate climate, to reach a better understanding of the effect of weather variations on enteric infections.
Methods: The weather variables and number of cases of bacillary dysentery during the period 1987-2000 has been studied on a monthly basis. The Spearman correlation between each weather variable and dysentery cases was conducted. Seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) models were used to perform the regression analyses.
Results: Maximum temperature (one-month lag), minimum temperature (one-month lag), rainfall (one-month lag), relative humidity (without lag), and air pressure (one-month lag) were all significantly correlated with the number of dysentery cases in Jinan. After controlling for the seasonality, lag time, and long-term trend, the SARIMA model suggested that a 1 degree C rise in maximum temperature might relate to more than 10% (95% confidence interval 10.19, 12.69) increase in the cases of bacillary dysentery in this city.
Conclusions: Weather variations have already affected the transmission of bacillary dysentery in China. Temperatures could be used as a predictor of the number of dysentery cases in a temperate city in northern China. Public health interventions should be undertaken at this stage to adapt and mitigate the possible consequences of climate change in the future.