Digital Epidemiology and Infodemiology of Hand-foot-mouth Disease (HFMD) in Italy. Disease Trend Assessment Via Google and Wikipedia

Overview

Journal Acta Biomed

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2023 Aug 4

PMID 37539609

Authors

Omar Enzo Santangelo

Vincenza Gianfredi

Sandro Provenzano

Fabrizio Cedrone

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background And Aim: The study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological trend of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Italy using data on Internet search volume.

Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used. Data on Internet searches were obtained from Google Trends (GT) and Wikipedia. We used the following Italian search term: "Malattia mano-piede-bocca" (Hand-foot-mouth disease, in English). A monthly time-frame was extracted, partly overlapping, from July 2015 to December 2022. GT and Wikipedia were overlapped to perform a linear regression and correlation analyses. Statistical analyses were performed using the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rho). A linear regression analysis was performed considering Wikipedia and GT.

Results: Search peaks for both Wikipedia and GT occurred in the months November-December during the autumn-winter season and in June during the spring-summer season, except for the period from June 2020 to June 2021, probably due to the restrictions of the COVID19 pandemic. A temporal correlation was observed between GT and Wikipedia search trends.

Conclusions: This is the first study in Italy that attempts to clarify the epidemiology of HFMD. Google search and Wikipedia can be valuable for public health surveillance; however, to date, digital epidemiology cannot replace the traditional surveillance system.

Citing Articles

Spatiotemporal Changes and Influencing Factors of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Guangzhou, China, From 2013 to 2022: Retrospective Analysis.

Liu J, Wang H, Zhong S, Zhang X, Wu Q, Luo H JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2024; 10:e58821.

PMID: 39104051 PMC: 11310896. DOI: 10.2196/58821.

Infodemiology and infoveillance: framework for contagious exanthematous diseases, of childhood in Italy.

Provenzano S, Santangelo O, Gianfredi V Pathog Glob Health. 2024; 118(4):317-324.

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Circulating trends of hand, foot, and mouth disease in Hubei Province, China: Impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zhou K, Ding Z, Hu B, Zhan J, Cai K Heliyon. 2023; 9(12):e22872.

PMID: 38058442 PMC: 10696181. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22872.

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