ArticleActa bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis2023
Digital epidemiology and infodemiology of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) in Italy. Disease trend assessment via Google and Wikipedia.
Article in Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Epidemiological characteristics and spatiotemporal analysis of hand-foot-mouth disease in Shandong Province, China.International health · 2026Article
- The Etiological Characteristics of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Yuyao, China, 2010-2023.Iranian journal of public health · 2025Article
- Spatiotemporal Changes and Influencing Factors of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease in Guangzhou, China, From 2013 to 2022: Retrospective Analysis.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Infodemiology and infoveillance: framework for contagious exanthematous diseases, of childhood in Italy.Pathogens and global health · 2024Article
- Circulating trends of hand, foot, and mouth disease in Hubei Province, China: Impact from the COVID-19 pandemic.Heliyon · 2023Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimThe study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological trend of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Italy using data on Internet search volume.
methodsA cross-sectional study design was used. Data on Internet searches were obtained from Google Trends (GT) and Wikipedia. We used the following Italian search term: "Malattia mano-piede-bocca" (Hand-foot-mouth disease, in English). A monthly time-frame was extracted, partly overlapping, from July 2015 to December 2022. GT and Wikipedia were overlapped to perform a linear regression and correlation analyses. Statistical analyses were performed using the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rho). A linear regression analysis was performed considering Wikipedia and GT.
resultsSearch peaks for both Wikipedia and GT occurred in the months November-December during the autumn-winter season and in June during the spring-summer season, except for the period from June 2020 to June 2021, probably due to the restrictions of the COVID19 pandemic. A temporal correlation was observed between GT and Wikipedia search trends.
conclusionsThis is the first study in Italy that attempts to clarify the epidemiology of HFMD. Google search and Wikipedia can be valuable for public health surveillance; however, to date, digital epidemiology cannot replace the traditional surveillance system.
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