Abstract

CASSAB, Alexander; MORALES, Víctor  and  MATTAR, Salim. Climatic factors and cases of Dengue in Monteria, Colombia: 2003-2008. Rev. salud pública [online]. 2011, vol.13, n.1, pp.115-128. ISSN 0124-0064.

Objective Assessing the relationship between cases of dengue and climatic factors rainfall (PLUV), temperature (TEMP) and relative humidity (HUM) in Monteria during 2003-2008. Methods This was a descriptive, retrospective study related to climatic variables and dengue cases in Monteria. Rainfall (PLUV), relative humidity (HUM) and temperature (TEMP) data recorded annual and monthly medians and averages. The Shapiro-Wilks correlation coefficient and Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric variance tests were performed. Results Dengue cases did not present normal distribution or significant difference. There were 1,050 cases; the highest number was reported in 2005 (305) but only 80 cases in 2004 (annual average was 175). Univariate analysis of dengue cases was not significantly influenced by HUM (R² 17 %), PLUV (R² 18.3 %) or TEMP (R² 1.8 %). HUM and PLUV variables presented high positive correlation (0.798171). TEMP and PLUV had -0.1310772 negative correlation coefficient; TEMP and HUM had -0.6048030 negative correlation. The strongest climate-dengue case correlation was associated with combining the three variables (TEMP, HUM and PLUV). The Niño and Niña continental phenomena did not influence dengue cases. Conclusions This retrospective study showed a strong and consistent overall association between TEMP, HUM and PLUV affecting dengue transmission in Monteria.

Keywords : Tropical climate; dengue; Colombia; prevalence.

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