14th ICID - Poster Abstracts - International Society for Infectious ...

When citing these abstracts please use the following reference:
Author(s) of abstract. Title of abstract [abstract]. Int J Infect Dis 2010;14S1: Abstract number.
Please note that the official publication of the International Journal of Infectious Diseases 2010, Volume 14, Supplement 1
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Final Abstract Number: 76.014
Session: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Date: Friday, March 12, 2010
Time: 12:30-13:30
Room: Poster & Exhibition Area/Ground Level
Type: Poster Presentation
The 2008 dengue epidemic on Curaçao: Correlation with climatological factors
M. Limper 1 , C. Van de Weg 2 , P. Koraka 2 , Y. Halabi 3 , I. Gerstenbluth 3 , J. Boekhoudt 4 , A. Martis 4 ,
B. Martina 2 , A. Duits 5 , A. Osterhaus 2 , E. Van Gorp 1
1 Slotervaart Hospital, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2 Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 3 Medical
& Public Health Service (GGD) of Curaçao, Curacao, Netherlands, 4 Meteorological service of the
Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, Curacao, Netherlands, 5 Red Cross Blood Bank Curacao,
Curacao, Netherlands
Background: Dengue fever is a common disease on Curaçao, a small Caribbean island close to
Venezuela, with tens to hundreds of proven cases during the rain period each year. However,
2008 showed an unexpected and dramatic rise in incidence of dengue fever with almost 1200
serologically proven cases. We studied the correlation between climatological factors and the
incidence of dengue fever.
Methods: The statistical correlation between the incidence of serologically proven cases of
dengue fever and several climatological factors, such as rainfall, mean-, maximum- and minimum
temperature, wind velocity, sun hours, cloud coverage, evaporation rate and air pressure in the
past ten years was investigated by using the non-parametric Spearman’s correlation test.
Results: Lower average temperature, lower absolute maximum temperature, lower absolute
minimum temperature and lower average maximum temperature all showed a strong correlation
with the incidence of dengue fever (r = -0.228, p = 0.01; r = -0.225, p = 0.01; r = -0.235, p = 0.01
and r = -0.268, p = 0.003 respectively). A less strong, but significant correlation with rain (positive
correlation) and evaporation rate (negative correlation) could be observed (r = 0.192, p = 0.04
and r = -0.192, p = 0.04 respectively).
Conclusion: In 2008, an unexpected and dramatic peak in incidence of dengue fever in Curaçao
was observed. In the same year, average- as well as absolute minimum and maximum
temperature were significantly lower than in the previous years and were strongly correlated with
dengue incidence. As expected from earlier studies, rainfall and evaporation rate were also
significantly correlated to dengue incidence.
However, temperature changes showed a stronger correlation with the incidence of dengue fever
than rainfall and evaporation rate, suggesting that lower temperatures are an important factor in
the development of higher dengue incidence in Curaçao and not merely an epiphenomenon,
concurring with the rain period. This is in contrast with results from earlier studies conducted in
Mexico and Trinidad.