Effect of moon phases on dengue outbreaks in urban areas: A review
Dengue Fever (DF) is a flu-like viral infection with no current treatment. It is transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito female bites; incubation takes 3-14 days. Dengue is an urban disease. Statistics show that more than 100 countries in 2014 were affected by DF. It is the res...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Malaysian Public Health Physicians’ Association
2016
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/53905/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/53905/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/53905/3/53905-Effect%20of%20moon%20phases%20on%20dengue%20outbreaks.pdf |
| Summary: | Dengue Fever (DF) is a flu-like viral infection with no current treatment. It is
transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito female bites; incubation
takes 3-14 days. Dengue is an urban disease. Statistics show that more than 100
countries in 2014 were affected by DF. It is the result of the growing urban
environment providing favourable breeding sites by man-made containers such as tires
or uncollected refuse. Other factors such as weather temperature and rainfall are also
influencing the mosquito life cycle. A research made suggested that there is a gap in
research on determining the correlation between the biting habit of the vector and
the moon phases. Therefore, this research is an attempt to analyse historical dengue
cases reported by the Malaysian Ministry of Health and the moon phases for a period
of five and a half years to establish a correlation between the two variables. More
than 6000 data representing dengue cases were restructured to reflect the four moon
phases. In the present study, it is being established that there is an increase in
dengue cases during the new moon phase; this implies that there was a high landing
rate three to 14 days earlier. This coincides with the full moon and the third quarter
phases. The significance of these results would suggest that this temporal correlation
is determinant on how the data should be gathered in the future. It will further
strengthen the dengue surveillance by the relevant government agencies in Malaysia
and the region. |
|---|