Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Tuberculosis in Fukuoka, Japan

Tuberculosis (TB) has reemerged as a global public health epidemic in recent years. TB remains a serious public health problem among certain patient populations, and is prevalent in many urban areas. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately nine million individuals will develop active TB disease and more than two million will die from TB. The global burden of TB remains enormous, and will likely rank high among public health problems in the coming decades. Although evaluating local disease clusters leads to effective prevention and control of TB, there are few, if any, spatiotemporal comparisons for epidemic diseases. In this study, we used the space-time scan statistic to identify where and when the prevalence of TB is high in Fukuoka Prefecture. The ability to detect disease outbreaks is important for local and national health departments to minimize morbidity and mortality through timely implementation of disease prevention and control measures. Because the statistic meets these needs completely, results that are effective and practical for public health officials are expected from this study.