title: Environmental factors and incidence of dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever in an urban area, Southern Thailand.
abstract: Using the enumeration district (ED) block level this study looked at the incidence of dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever (DF/DHF) within the Songkhla municipality in Thailand. Each of the 146 blocks in this area were considered as study units and surveyed for their environmental characteristics. A total of 287 cases of DH/DHF occurring in the year 1998 were selected for this study and the location of their homes mapped. Clustering analysis showed point clustering of the homes (P<0.0001) which was probably due to high density habitation, without any actual prevalence of case clustering. There was no evidence of clustering of the ED blocks with an incidence of DF/DHF (P=0.32). DF/DHF incidence for each block was strongly associated with the percentages of shop-houses, brick-made houses and houses with poor garbage disposal (all P<0.01). DF/DHF control should be emphasized for the areas which have a predominance of these housing types.
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand. sthammapalo@yahoo.com
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thammapalo
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chongsuvivatwong
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Geater
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dueravee
mesh_terms: D003710:Demography; D003715:Dengue / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D019595:Severe Dengue / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013785:Thailand / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population