Dengue Epidemiology in a Brazilian Community

Dengue is a major vector-borne disease and has motivated health surveillance systems to implement various measures to control it. The epidemiological characterization of dengue occurrence in a community is an important step to foster control activities. We carried out an epidemiological study of the notified and confirmed cases of dengue, from 2000 to 2005, in Guarulhos, State of São Paulo, Brazil. A statistical analysis was performed to test the differences, by sex and age, between the database and the individuals of the population. We also performed a time series analysis of the cases from 2000 to 2007. No statistically significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed between the proportions for each sex in the data base and in the city population, and in the categories of 15 - 19 years, 20 - 24 years, 25 - 29 years, 55 - 59 years, 60 - 64 years and 70 - 74 years when compared with the corresponding age intervals in the population. In the other age intervals, statistically significant differences were observed (P < 0.05). We observed a cyclic variation in the dengue incidence, between 2000 and 2007, with an alternation of two years with a smaller number of cases (2000-2001 and 2004-2005) and two years with a larger number of cases (2002-2003 and 2006-2007). In the seasonality analysis, the number of cases between February and May was higher than the monthly average. Analyzing the spatial distribution of the cases, we observed the process of increasing endemicity of dengue.