The dengue fever in four municipalities of the Colima state, Mexico, from 2008 to 2015 and its relation with some climatological normals

TL;DR

This study analyzes dengue fever incidence in four municipalities of Colima, Mexico, from 2008 to 2015, highlighting its correlation with climate factors and the impact of a public campaign on reducing cases.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the relationship between climate normals, public health campaigns, and dengue incidence in specific Mexican municipalities.

Findings

Dengue incidence correlates strongly with precipitation and minimum temperature.

The 'descacharrizacion' campaign contributed to reducing mosquito breeding and dengue cases.

Climate factors can predict dengue outbreak patterns.

Abstract

Although dengue fever is an ancient disease that should have been eradicated since time ago, in Mexico as well as in other regions worldwide the cases of classic and hemorrhagic dengue continue to be reported presently. Since 2002 (and before), a worrying outbreak of dengue was observed in several states of Mexico, notably the case of Colima for which a "descacharrizacion" campaign was implemented in 2009 to encourage the population to get rid of old objects accumulated in their backyards and outdoors so as to prevent proliferation of mosquitoes Aedes Aegypti. To understand the effect of such campaign, we studied the incidence of dengue in four municipalities of the mentioned state, namely Manzanillo, Armeria, Tecoman and Ixtlahuacan. In particular, we observed that the incidence of dengue in these four municipalities had a strong relationship with climatological normals, specifically precipitation and minimum temperature. Furthermore, the results showed that the mentioned campaign helped prevent mosquito eggs incubation and their development, thus leading to reduction of the incidence of dengue in the human population.