The climatic factors affecting dengue fever outbreaks in southern Taiwan: an application of symbolic data analysis

BACKGROUND: Dengue fever is a leading cause of severe illness and hospitalization in Taiwan. This study sought to elucidate the linkage between dengue fever incidence and climate factors. RESULTS: The result indicated that temperature, accumulated rainfall, and sunshine play an important role in the transmission cycles of dengue fever. A predictive model equation plots dengue fever incidence versus temperature, rainfall, and sunshine, and it suggests that temperature, rainfall, and sunshine are significantly correlated with dengue fever incidence. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggests that climate factors are important determinants of dengue fever in southern Taiwan. Dengue fever viruses and the mosquito vectors are sensitive to their environment. Temperature, rainfall and sunshine have well-defined roles in the transmission cycle. This finding suggests that control of mosquito by climatic factor during high temperature seasons may be an important strategy for containing the burden of dengue fever.