Spatiotemporal pattern of peste des petits ruminants and its relationship with meteorological factors in China

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a severe infectious viral disease of domestic and wild small ruminants, and it threatens food security and livelihood of farmers across the world. In China, 292 PPR cases have been reported since it was first reported in 2007. Aiming to display the spatiotemporal patterns of PPR outbreaks and to understand its relationship with meteorological factors, we conducted a direction test, directional distribution analysis, and logistic regression analysis. The results showed that the spread of disease had a significant directional spread (P < 0.05). Daily average temperature (DAT) [OR 0.063 (95% CI 0.047-0.076)], daily average relative humidity (DARH) [OR 0.871 (95% CI 0.804-0.944)], and daily hours of sunshine (DHS) [OR 0.411 (95% CI 0.389-0.582)] were inversely associated with the risk of PPR outbreak, while a positive association was observed for daily average air pressure (DAAP) [OR 1.211 (95% CI 1.036-1.417). Our findings indicate that meteorological factors may be important variables for affecting PPR transmission, and should be taken into account in the future monitoring programs for PPR.