Higher Temperature Increased Eye Infections After Flood in Taiwan

ISEE-0209 Background: Flood may cause an increased incidence of infectious diseases. Less attention has focused on the infection in eyes from the flood. This study investigated eye infections associated with the floods in Taiwan. Methods: Computerized medical reimbursement data obtained from National Health Insurance and weather data obtained from the Central Weather Bureau were used in this study. Eye infection cases (ICD-9 3720, 3734-3736 and 076) identified for the 1996-2005 period were compared with all non-cases during floods and within 10 days after the floods controlling for covariates. Results: The overall eye infections incidence rate within 10 days after the floods was 64.7/100,000 person-days, higher than that during the floods (53.4/100,000 person-days) and normal days (46.9/100,000 person-days). The multivariate Poisson regression analysis revealed that the relative risk (RR) after the floods was 1.2 (95% confidence interval 1.0-1.3, P < 0.05) controlling for covariates. The risk of infection increased as the temperature increased; the RR increased to 1.76 at temperatures greater than 30 degrees C, compared with the temperatures of <15 degrees C. There was a V-shape relation between ages and the infections, with RRs of 2.3 (95% CI 2.3-2.5) for children <10 years of age and 3.4 (95% CI 3.1-3.6) for the elderly, compared with the persons aged 20-49 years. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that flood may increase the eye infection risk during the cleaning period after floods for youngsters and the elderly, particularly when it is warm. Key words: Children, eye infection, flood, temperature variation, the elderly, Taiwan.