Epidemiology and management of public health emergencies in schools at Quanzhou City during 2006-2015

Objective To analyze epidemiology and management of public health emergencies in schools at Quanzhou city during the period from 2006 to 2015.Methods By using descriptive epidemiological methods,information on public health emergencies in schools at Quanzhou during 2006-2015 was analyzed.Results During 2006 to 2015,a total of 65 public health emergencies were reported in schools in Quanzhou.Among those reported events,there were 40(61.5%) unrated events and 25(38.5%)general events.Respiratory infectious disease including influenza and chickenpox outbreaks accounted for 97% and intestinal infectious diseases including norovirus and hand foot mouth disease accounted for 3%.About 81.5% of cases occurred between March to May and September to December.Incidence was higher in rural schools (3.13%) than urban schools (1.68%).Average attack rate (3.17%,1 208/38 098) was highest in primary schools,compared with that of kindergarten,middle and secondary school(x2=219.472,P<0.01).The median value of monitoring sensitivity of school accidents was 8.28 days,which was closely related to the median duration of management(14 days) (r =0.735,P<0.01).Conclusion Infectious disease outbreaks are the major public health emergencies in schools.Syndromic surveillance on basic symptoms (cough,fever,diarrhea and rash) might help identify potential public health emergencies in schools.