Effect of climate fluctuations on infectious diseases in Brazil

• Grant number: 18/11876-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2018
• End date: September 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Collective Health - Epidemiology
• Principal Investigator: Francisco Chiaravalloti Neto
• Grantee: Gabriel Correia Lima
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Saúde Pública (FSP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The climatic and ecological changes that have been taking place on the planet have influenced the spatial distribution of infectious diseases, also affecting the time and intensity of the outbreaks. There is a need for a comprehensive study showing how the distribution pattern of major infectious diseases has been changing in recent years. Thus, we propose here to evaluate the spatio-temporal arrangement of nine infectious diseases (Macular Fever, Hantavirus, Visceral and Tegumentary Leishmaniasis, Dengue, Malaria, Leptospirosis, Yellow Fever and Chagas Disease) in the last 20 years in Brazil. The hypothesis is that abnormal climate fluctuations are related to the increased incidence of these diseases. First, the databases on the nine infectious diseases and the environmental factors of the last 20 years will be downloaded and tabulated. With the possession of the spreadsheets, containing the cases will be constructed thematic maps highlighting the high-risk municipalities and checking the spatial trend in the last two decades. Once this has been done, data on environmental factors will be aggregated to examine whether there is any relationship between climate fluctuations and the increase in the number of cases of each disease.