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José Eduardo Marques Pessanha
Secretaria Municipal de Saúde de Belo Horizonte |
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
edumpessanha@hotmail.com
Dengue in Urban Settings, the Belo Horizonte Experience
We consider the dengue occurrence in the City of Belo Horizonte over the last fifteen years. Approximately 200,000 cases registered from 1996 to 2012 were analyzed. The home address of individuals whose dengue case was notified was used as a proxy for exposure location. For determining possible outbreaks of disease and the specific patterns of dengue cases, spatial statistics used included Kernel’s estimation. The occurrence of waves of dengue outbreaks were correlated with climatic and vector presence data. Outbreaks had different durations and intensities; case clustering, thinned out both spatially and temporally. This experience may be useful for public health professionals responsible for fighting the disease, providing some tools for improving evaluation of interventions such as vector control and patient care, minimizing the collective and individual burden of the disease.