#12,105
Around the 10th of each month China's NFHPC (National Family Health & Planning Commission) releases a barebones overview of infectious diseases reported across Mainland China during the previous month. These summaries are very short - with an attached list of over 3 dozen infectious diseases - providing only country totals, and number of deaths recorded.
These totals do not include Hong Kong or Macao.While the provincial EOM epidemiology reports upon which this report is based aren't guaranteed to capture every case (unrealistic under any circumstances), this report does provides us with the closest accounting of infectious disease activity in China we are likely to get.
It, unfortunately, provides zero detail and so its usefulness to us is very limited. With the recent deluge of (mostly December) avian influenza cases reported last Monday (see HK CHP: China Reports An Additional 83 H7N9 Cases For December), it can, however, help us delineate how many cases occurred between Dec 1st-Dec 31st.
With the avian flu season beginning on October 1st, today's is the 3rd report of this 5th epidemic season. This season the NFHPC has reported:
For October: 2 H7N9 cases, 1 death 0 H5 Cases
For November: 6 H7N9 cases, NO deaths 0 H5 Cases
For December: 106 H7N9 cases, 20 deatths 0 H5 Cases
Our currrent H7N9 case line list (as maintained by Sharon Sanders of FluTrackers) sits in the mid 120s, and when you add the 5 Hong Kong/Macao cases, and those reported since January 1st to the 114 listed above, makes it pretty darn close.
As to how many have really occurred thus far in January - we can only pick up and add those that are announced, and that we can reasonably differentiate from previously announced cases. The dearth of patient data being provided makes that job increasingly difficult.
There does not, however, appear to be any noticeable slowdown in cases since the first of the year.
For what it is worth, here is today's NFHPC summary report, and excerpts from the tables.
National Health and Family Planning Commission People's Republic of China2017-01-11December 2016 (at 0:00 on December 1, 2016 to December 31 24), the country (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, the same below) reported a total of 582,717 cases of legal infectious diseases, died 1880 people. Among them, the Group of infectious diseases as plague, cholera incidence and deaths have been reported. B infectious diseases infectious atypical pneumonia, diphtheria, polio and no human infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza morbidity, mortality reports, the remaining 22 infectious diseases were reported incidence of 281,544 cases, 1864 people died. Before the reported incidence of the top five diseases were viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, and scarlet fever, accounting for 93% of the total reported cases of class B infectious diseases.
Over the same period, Class C infectious diseases filariasis morbidity, mortality reports, the remaining 10 infectious diseases were reported incidence of 301,173 cases, killed 16 people. Before the reported incidence of the three diseases were hand-foot-mouth disease, other infectious diarrhea and influenza, accounting for 93% of the total reported cases of class C infectious diseases.
