LEPTOSPIROSIS’S TREND AND SEASONALIT Y IN BRAZIL: STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF NOTIFIED CASES BET WEEN 2008 AND 2012

  • Carlos Alexandre Rodrigues Pereira Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sérgio Arouca
  • Martha Macedo de Lima Barata Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
  • Cristina Costa Neto Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sérgio Arouca
  • Gina Torres Rego Monteiro Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sérgio Arouca
Keywords: Leptospirosis, Epidemiology, Descriptive, Neglected Diseases, Environmental Health

Abstract

Leptospirosis is endemic in tropical countries such as Brazil. In order to quantify the cases stemming the trend of this disease in Brazil, free of seasonal variations, we conducted a statistical analysis of the time series of cases reported monthly between January 2008 and December 2012. We conducted periodicity analysis and seasonal decomposition using data reported in SINAN (Notifiable Diseases Information System). We create a graph with the original and the trend-cycle series, through which we make our analyzes and raise some hypotheses. Seasonal variables as the rain really can be associated with leptospirosis, but this disease may occurs independently of the rain and it is possible that the amount of cases could be greater if the search had been continued active throughout the dry season, as can be viewed in the comparative graph. This check is added to the results of previous studies, which warn of danger to be expected that cases of leptospirosis occur only during rainy periods and due to contact with rain or floods, which may decrease the active search for disease in dry periods and may neglect other possibilities of disease transmission.

Author Biographies

Carlos Alexandre Rodrigues Pereira, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sérgio Arouca
Doutorando e em Saúde Pública e Meio Ambiente pela Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Brasil.
Martha Macedo de Lima Barata, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Doutora em Planejamento Energético pela Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, UFRJ, Brasil; Docente permanente no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Pública e Meio Ambiente da Escola Nacional de Saúde Publica/Fiocruz.
Cristina Costa Neto, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sérgio Arouca
Mestre em Estatística pela Associação Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada; Tecnologista da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz.
Published
2014-11-04
Section
Artigos Originais