Effects of meteorological factors on scrub typhus in a temperate region of China.

[scrub typhus]

Scrub typhus is emerging and re -emerging in many areas : climate change may affect its spread . To explore the effects of meteorological factors on scrub typhus , monthly cases of scrub typhus from January 2006 to December 2012 in the Laiwu district of temperate northern China were analysed . We examined the correlations between scrub typhus and meteorological factors (and their delayed effects ). We built a time-series adjusted negative binomial model to reflect the relationships between climate variables and scrub typhus cases . The key determinants of scrub typhus transmission were temperature , relative humidity and precipitation . Each 1 °C increase in monthly average temperature in the previous 3 months , each 1 % increase in monthly relative humidity in the previous 2 months and each 1 mm increase in monthly precipitation in the previous 3 months induced 15 ·4 %, 12 ·6 % and 0 ·7 % increases in the monthly number of cases , respectively . In conclusion , scrub typhus is affected by climate change in temperate regions .