Most cited article - PubMed ID 27772539
Cyclic patterns in the central European tick-borne encephalitis incidence series
The aim of this review is to follow the history of studies on endemiv arboviruses and the diseases they cause which were detected in the Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia (i.e., the Czech Republic)). The viruses involve tick-borne encephalitis, West Nile and Usutu flaviviruses; the Sindbis alphavirus; Ťahyňa, Batai, Lednice and Sedlec bunyaviruses; the Uukuniemi phlebovirus; and the Tribeč orbivirus. Arboviruses temporarily imported from abroad to the Czech Republic have been omitted. This brief historical review includes a bibliography of all relevant papers.
- Keywords
- arthropods, birds, mammals, mosquitoes, ticks,
- MeSH
- Arbovirus Infections history MeSH
- Arboviruses physiology MeSH
- History, 20th Century MeSH
- History, 21st Century MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- History, 20th Century MeSH
- History, 21st Century MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Historical Article MeSH
- Review MeSH
- Geographicals
- Czech Republic epidemiology MeSH
Tick-borne encephalitis exhibits profound inter-annual fluctuations in incidence. Previous studies showed that three-fifths of the variation can be explained in terms of four superimposed oscillations: a quasi-biennial, triennial, pentennial, and a decadal cycle. This study was conducted to determine how these cycles could be influenced by climate change. Epidemiological data, spanning from the 1970s to the present, and originating from six regions/countries bridging Scandinavia and the Mediterranean, represented a temporal/latitudinal gradient. Spectral analysis of time series was used to determine variation in the cycles' length/amplitude with respect to these gradients. The analysis showed that-whereas the lengths of the shorter cycles do not vary substantially-cycles in the decadal band tend to be longer southwards. When comparing the disease's oscillations before- and after the mid-1990s, a shift towards longer oscillations was detected in the pentennial-decadal band, but not in the biennial- triennial band. Simultaneously, oscillations in the latter band increased in intensity whereas the decadal oscillations weakened. In summary, the rhythm of the cycles has been altered by climate change. Lengthened cycles may be explained by prolonged survival of some animal hosts, and consequently greater inertia in herd immunity changes, slowing down a feedback loop between the herd immunity and amount of virus circulating in nature.
- Keywords
- climate change, disease dynamics, tick-borne encephalitis, time-series analysis,
- MeSH
- Incidence MeSH
- Climate Change * MeSH
- Encephalitis, Tick-Borne epidemiology MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
Tick-borne encephalitis is a serious arboviral infection with unstable dynamics and profound inter-annual fluctuations in case numbers. A dependable predictive model has been sought since the discovery of the disease. The present study demonstrates that four superimposed cycles, approximately 2·4, 3, 5·4, and 10·4 years long, can account for three-fifths of the variation in the disease fluctuations over central Europe. Using harmonic regression, these cycles can be projected into the future, yielding forecasts of sufficient accuracy for up to 4 years ahead. For the years 2016-2018, this model predicts elevated incidence levels in most parts of the region.
- Keywords
- Central Europe, forecast, incidence, tick-borne encephalitis,
- MeSH
- Incidence MeSH
- Encephalitis, Tick-Borne epidemiology virology MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Periodicity MeSH
- Models, Theoretical MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Geographicals
- Europe epidemiology MeSH