A descriptive analysis of the Spatio-temporal distribution of intestinal infectious diseases in China

Mao, Ying; Zhang, Ning; Zhu, Bin; Liu, Jinlin; He, Rongxin

Intestinal infectious diseases (IIDs), also known as infectious enteric diseases, are transmitted via the faecal-oral route through contaminated food, water, or fomites. The main symptoms of intestinal infectious diseases include nausea, vomiting, fever, headache, limb pain, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, systemic poisoning, diarrhoea, and other gastrointestinal symptoms, which may lead to death if not treated promptly. IIDs have posed public health threats and resulted in severe social and economic burdens due to the high incidence and morbidity rates, particularly in young children [1] [2] [3] . Several large, severe global disease outbreaks have been associated with IIDs, such as the outbreaks of HFMD in east and southeast Asia in the early twenty-first century [4] , the constantly high burden of cholera that persists in many African countries, and the cholera outbreaks with active cholera transmission in many sub-Saharan African countries [5] . According to the sustainable development goals (SDG), we should combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases. IIDs represent a significant obstacle to achieving SDG [6] .