Correlation between infectious disease and soil radiation in Japan: an exploratory study using national sentinel surveillance data

We investigated the relationship between epidemics and soil radiation through an exploratory study using sentinel surveillance data (individuals aged dm ( μ Gy/h)] for each sentinel site using data on uranium, thorium, and potassium oxide in the soil and examined the incidence rate in units of 0·01 μ Gy/h. The correlations between the incidence rate and the average soil radiation were assessed. Epidemic clusters of influenza and norovirus infections were observed in areas with relatively high radiation exposure. A positive correlation was detected between the average incidence rate and radiation dose, at r = 0·61–0·84 ( P r = 0·61–0·72 ( P dm dm