RESEARCH ARTICLE Spatiotemporal Clustering Analysis and Risk Assessments of Human Cutaneous Anthrax in China, 2005–2012 Wen-Yi Zhang1☯, Li-YaWang1☯, Xiu-Shan Zhang1☯, Zhi-Hai Han2☯, Wen-Biao Hu3☯,

Objective To investigate the epidemic characteristics of human cutaneous anthrax (CA) in China, detect the spatiotemporal clusters at the county level for preemptive public health interven-tions, and evaluate the differences in the epidemiological characteristics within and outside clusters. Methods CA cases reported during 2005–2012 from the national surveillance system were evaluated at the county level using space-time scan statistic. Comparative analysis of the epidemic characteristics within and outside identified clusters was performed using using the χ2 test or Kruskal-Wallis test. Results The group of 30–39 years had the highest incidence of CA, and the fatality rate increased with age, with persons70 years showing a fatality rate of 4.04%. Seasonality analysis showed that most of CA cases occurred between May/June and September/October o