Epidemiological characteristics of hand, foot, and mouth disease clusters in Beijing, China, 2019–2024

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common enteric infectious disease that poses a threat to children's health. The disease exhibits high epidemic intensity and frequent clusters in Beijing, the capital of China. The present study analyzed data on HFMD clusters in Beijing from 2019 to 2024, reported by the district-level Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and compiled by the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This study comprehensively examined the epidemiological characteristics of HFMD clusters, including demographic information, regional distribution, and pathogen associations. The Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (i.e., “SARIMA”) model was used to predict cluster incidence by 2025. From 2019 to 2024, 4265 HFMD clusters were reported in Beijing, exhibiting a pattern of high incidence every other year and two peaks annually, with significant seasonal epidemic characteristics. The primary locations of the clusters were kindergartens, schools, and households. Analysis of regional distribution revealed that the near suburbs had a higher incidence than the central and outer suburbs. It is recommended that key locations, such as kindergartens and schools in the near suburbs and urban-rural junctions, further implement HFMD prevention and control measures, strengthen surveillance, closely monitor changes in viral strains, and prepare in advance for HFMD cluster prevention and control.