Incidence and trends of 17 notifiable bacterial infectious diseases in China, 2004–2019

BACKGROUND: Certain bacterial infectious diseases are categorized as notifiable infectious diseases in China. Understanding the time-varying epidemiology of bacterial infections diseases can provide scientific evidence to inform prevention and control measures. METHODS: Yearly incidence data for all 17 major notifiable bacterial infectious diseases (BIDs) at the province level were obtained from the National Notifiable Infectious Disease Reporting Information System in China between 2004 and 2019. Of them 16 BIDs are divided into four categories, respiratory transmitted diseases (RTDs, 6 diseases), direct contact/fecal-oral transmitted diseases (DCFTDs, 3 diseases), blood-borne/sexually transmitted diseases (BSTDs, 2 diseases), and zoonotic and vector-borne diseases (ZVDs, 5 diseases), and neonatal tetanus is excluded in the analysis. We characterized the demographic, temporal, and geographical features of the BIDs and examined their changing trends using a joinpoint regression analysis. RESULTS: During 2004‒2019, 28 779 thousand cases of BIDs were reported, with an annualized incidence rate of 134.00 per 100 000. RTDs were the most commonly reported BIDs, accounting for 57.02% of the cases (16 410 639/28 779 000). Average annual percent changes (AAPC) in incidence were − 1.98% for RTDs, − 11.66% for DCFTDs, 4.74% for BSTDs, and 4.46% for ZVDs. Females had a higher incidence of syphilis than males, and other BIDs were more commonly reported in males. Among 0-5-year-olds, the diseases with the largest increases in incidence were pertussis (15.17% AAPC) and scarlet fever (12.05%). Children and students had the highest incidence rates of scarlet fever, pertussis, meningococcal meningitis, and bacillary dysentery. Northwest China had the highest incidence of RTDs, while South and East China had the highest incidences of BSTDs. Laboratory confirmation of BIDs increased from 43.80 to 64.04% during the study period. CONCLUSIONS: RTDs and DCFTDs decreased from 2004 to 2019 in China, while BSTDs and ZVDs increased during the same period. Great attention should be paid to BSTDs and ZVDs, active surveillance should be strengthened, and timely control measures should be adopted to reduce the incidence. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-023-08194-z.