TITLE:
Descriptive Epidemiology for Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection Using (Nursery) School Absenteeism Surveillance System, and Proposal for Countermeasures
AUTHORS:
Junko Kurita, Natsuki Nagasu, Noriko Nagata, Naomi Sakurai, Yasushi Ohkusa, Tamie Sugawara
KEYWORDS:
Mycoplasma Infection, (Nursery) School Absenteeism Surveillance System, Surveillance
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.6 No.10,
October
12,
2018
ABSTRACT: Objective: We present descriptive
epidemiology of Mycoplasma infection
using the (Nursery) School Absenteeism Surveillance System ((N)SASSy) in
addition to national official sentinel surveillance for
infectious diseases (NOSSID). It is expected to be helpful for early detection
and response to outbreak of Mycoplasma infection and also to be useful for antimicrobial resistance measures. Method: The
study period was 2010-2014
seasons. The study area was the whole of Ibaraki prefecture, Japan. NOSSID
reports the number of patients with Mycoplasma pneumonia from 13 sentinel hospitals. We compare the number of patients and the
incidence rate of NOSSID with the same information in (N)SASSy. Result: In
NOSSID, the largest number of patients by age was 27 patients of one year old
in 2012. (N)SASSy showed that the incidence rate in the elementary schools is
high in 2011 and 2012. Especially, the second grade students were the highest. Discussion: Even
though Mycoplasma infection is well
known as a pediatric disease, we showed that second grade was the
highest in incidence at first. Because (N)SASSy is timely and real-time
information collection, evaluation and sharing countermeasures with (nursery)
schools, public health centers, and physicians are useful for students and
nursery school children, and communities. Conclusion: Because mycoplasma infection is
common pediatric infectious diseases and because some patients rarely develop
severe infections, we must prevent larger outbreaks. (N)SASSy can provide
timely intervention at the initial phase of outbreak by monitoring situations
in (nursery) schools and comparing data to baseline information.