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Role of climate in the spread of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli infection among children

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Abstract

Haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS) is a rare disease mainly affecting children that develops as a complication of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infection. It is characterised by acute kidney injury, platelet consumption and mechanical destruction of red blood cells (haemolysis). In order to test the working hypothesis that the spread of the infection is influenced by specific climatic conditions, we analysed all of the identified cases of infection occurring between June 2010 and December 2013 in four provinces of Lombardy, Italy (Milano, Monza Brianza, Varese and Brescia), in which a STEC surveillance system has been developed as part of a preventive programme. In the selected provinces, we recorded in few days a great number of cases and clusters which are unrelated for spatially distant or for the disease are caused by different STEC serotypes. In order to investigate a common factor that favoured the onset of infection, we have analysed in detail the weather conditions of the areas. The daily series of temperature, rain and relative humidity were studied to show the common climate peculiarities whilst the correlation coefficient and the principal component analysis (PCA) were used to point out the meteorological variable, maximum temperature, as the principal climate element in the onset of the infection. The use of distributed lag non-linear models (DLNM) and the climate indices characterising heat waves (HWs) has allowed to identify the weather conditions associated with STEC infection. The study highlighted a close temporal correlation between STEC infection in children and the number, duration and frequency of heat waves. In particular, if the maximum temperature is greater than 90th percentile, days classified as very hot, for 3 or more consecutive days, the risk of infection is increasing.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to ‘Progetto Alice ONLUS. Associazione per la lotta alla SEU’ for their essential support to the investigation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy

    Fiorella Acquaotta & Simona Fratianni

  2. Centro interdipartimentale sui rischi naturali in ambiente montano e collinare, NatRisk, Grugliasco, Torino, Italy

    Fiorella Acquaotta & Simona Fratianni

  3. Center for Prevention, Control and Management of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome at the Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy

    Gianluigi Ardissino & Michela Perrone

Authors
  1. Fiorella Acquaotta
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  2. Gianluigi Ardissino
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  3. Simona Fratianni
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  4. Michela Perrone
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fiorella Acquaotta.

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The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico on 18 May 2010.

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Acquaotta, F., Ardissino, G., Fratianni, S. et al. Role of climate in the spread of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli infection among children. Int J Biometeorol 61, 1647–1655 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-017-1344-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-017-1344-y

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