Association between rainfall and the prevalence of clinical cases of dengue in Thiruvananthapuram district, India

Abstract

Dengue fever is a fast spreading mosquito borne viral disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. The abundance and the transmission potential of Aedes mosquitoes are influenced by climatic factors. An investigation was carried out in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala to study the correlation between rainfall and prevalence of dengue infection during 2015–2019. Dengue data (2015–2019) were collected from Directorate of Health Services, Thiruvananthapuram and the rainfall data were derived from Indian Meteorological Department, Thiruvananthapuram. The correlation between the rainfall and the prevalence of dengue was assessed by regression analysis. Dengue cases usually follow a seasonal pattern, with most of the cases reported during the monsoon season. Rainfall were positively associated with the number of dengue cases and highly significant correlation was found between dengue cases and rainfall. The regression equation for prevalence of dengue (y) versus rainfall (x) is y = 1.28 x + 31.03 (r = 0.875, p