GeoHealth Laboratory, Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Epidemiol Infect. 2012 Aug;140(8):1481-96. doi: 10.1017/S0950268811000975. Epub 2011 Sep 27.
This study evaluated the spatio-temporal variation of Legionella spp. in New Zealand using notification and laboratory surveillance data from 1979 to 2009 and analysed the epidemiological trends. To achieve this we focused on changing incidence rates and occurrence of different species over this time. We also examined whether demographic characteristics such as ethnicity may be related to incidence. The annual incidence rate for laboratory-proven cases was 2·5/100,000 and 1·4/100,000 for notified cases. Incidence was highest in the European population and showed large geographical variations between 21 District Health Boards. An important finding of this study is that the predominant Legionella species causing disease in New Zealand differs from that found in other developed countries, with about 30-50% of cases due to L. longbeachae and a similar percentage due to L. pneumophila for any given year. The environmental risk exposure was identified in 420 (52%) cases, of which 58% were attributed to contact with compost; travel was much less significant as a risk factor (6·5%). This suggests that legionellosis has a distinctive epidemiological pattern in New Zealand.
本研究利用 1979 年至 2009 年的通报和实验室监测数据评估了新西兰嗜肺军团菌的时空变化，并分析了其流行病学趋势。为此，我们重点关注了这一时期不同物种发病率的变化和发生情况。我们还研究了人口统计学特征（如种族）是否与发病率有关。经实验室证实的病例年发病率为 2.5/100,000，通报病例的年发病率为 1.4/100,000。欧洲人群的发病率最高，21 个地区卫生局之间的发病率存在显著的地域差异。本研究的一个重要发现是，引起新西兰疾病的主要军团菌种类与其他发达国家不同，每年约有 30-50%的病例是由长滩军团菌引起的，而类似比例的病例是由嗜肺军团菌引起的。在 420 例（52%）环境风险暴露病例中，58%归因于接触堆肥；旅行作为一个风险因素的重要性要小得多（6.5%）。这表明军团菌病在新西兰具有独特的流行病学模式。
