Seong Hee Oh, Minjei Lee, Sookhyun Kim, Myung-Jae Hwang, Sang Yun Cho
{"title":"Epidemiological Characteristics of Varicella Outbreaks in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do, the Republic of Korea, 2022-2025.","authors":"Seong Hee Oh, Minjei Lee, Sookhyun Kim, Myung-Jae Hwang, Sang Yun Cho","doi":"10.56786/PHWR.2026.19.40.1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aimed to characterize the epidemiological patterns of varicella outbreaks in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do from 2022 to 2025.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Varicella outbreaks reported through the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency surveillance system in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do from January 2022 through December 2025 were analyzed. Of the 235 reported outbreaks, 213 met the inclusion criteria after excluding reclassified, duplicate, deleted, and out-of-region outbreaks. Outbreak size and duration were analyzed for 209 outbreaks involving 2,253 outbreak-associated cases with available case-level information.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The number of varicella outbreaks increased from 14 in 2022 to 84 in 2024, and outbreak-associated cases also peaked in 2024, at 898. Elementary schools accounted for 59.6% of outbreaks, and most outbreaks involving 11 or more cases occurred in elementary schools. Outbreak size did not differ significantly across years, whereas outbreak duration differed significantly across years.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study characterized the epidemiological patterns of varicella outbreaks in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do from 2022 to 2025 and found that outbreaks occurred most frequently in elementary schools, where most outbreaks involving 11 or more cases also occurred. These findings may serve as a basis to inform school-based varicella prevention and control efforts and to review future vaccination policies.</p>","PeriodicalId":523884,"journal":{"name":"Public health weekly report","volume":"19 40","pages":"1685-1700"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2026-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13691639/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Public health weekly report","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.56786/PHWR.2026.19.40.1","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to characterize the epidemiological patterns of varicella outbreaks in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do from 2022 to 2025.
Methods: Varicella outbreaks reported through the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency surveillance system in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do from January 2022 through December 2025 were analyzed. Of the 235 reported outbreaks, 213 met the inclusion criteria after excluding reclassified, duplicate, deleted, and out-of-region outbreaks. Outbreak size and duration were analyzed for 209 outbreaks involving 2,253 outbreak-associated cases with available case-level information.
Results: The number of varicella outbreaks increased from 14 in 2022 to 84 in 2024, and outbreak-associated cases also peaked in 2024, at 898. Elementary schools accounted for 59.6% of outbreaks, and most outbreaks involving 11 or more cases occurred in elementary schools. Outbreak size did not differ significantly across years, whereas outbreak duration differed significantly across years.
Conclusions: This study characterized the epidemiological patterns of varicella outbreaks in Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do from 2022 to 2025 and found that outbreaks occurred most frequently in elementary schools, where most outbreaks involving 11 or more cases also occurred. These findings may serve as a basis to inform school-based varicella prevention and control efforts and to review future vaccination policies.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
