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Mapping the ecoepidemiology of Zika virus infection in urban and rural areas of Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia, 2015–2016: Implications for public health and travel medicine.

Abstract

Objective Geographical information systems (GIS) have been demonstrated earlier to be of great use to inform public health action against vector-borne infectious diseases.
Methods Using surveillance data on the ongoing ZIKV outbreak from Pereira, Colombia (2015–2016), we estimated incidence rates (cases/100,000 population), and developed maps correlating with the ecoepidemiology of the area.
Results Up to October 8, 2016, 439 cases of ZIKV were reported in Pereira (93 cases/100,000 pop.), with highest rates in the South-West area. At the corregiments (sub-municipalities) of Pereira, Caimalito presented the highest rate. An urban area, Cuba, has 169 cases/100,000 pop., with a low economical level and the highest Aedic index (9.1%). Entomological indexes were associated with ZIKV incidence at simple and multiple non-linear regressions (r2 > 0.25; p < 0.05).
Conclusions Combining entomological, environmental, human population density, travel patterns and case data of vector-borne infections, such as ZIKV, leads to a valuable tool that can be used to pinpoint hotspots also for infections such as dengue, chikungunya and malaria. Such a tool is key to planning mosquito control and the prevention of mosquito-borne diseases in local populations. Such data also enable microepidemiology and the prediction of risk for travelers who visit specific areas in a destination country.

More information

Type
Journal Article
Author
Rodríguez-Morales AJ
Ruiz P
Tabares J
Ossa CA
Yepes-Echeverry MC
Ramirez-Jaramillo V
Galindo-Marquez ML
García-Loaiza CJ
Sabogal-Roman JA
Parra-Valencia E
Lagos-Grisales GJ
Lozada-Riascos C
Pijper CA
Grobusch M