Patient Delay in Hospital Visiting and the Weekend Effect of Surveillance Report on Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Epidemic Parotitis in Hanzhong City, China.

The reported cases of HFMD and epidemic parotitis had an obvious weekend effect, with an increasing tendency of cases delaying in hospital visiting over the recent years in Hanzhong, China. Parents and caregivers rather than health systems should be primarily targeted for the prevention and control of infectious diseases and their local outbreaks such as community-based education on the second-dose vaccination of mumps and/or hand hygiene.