Different responses of dengue to weather variability across climate zones in Queensland, Australia

Rokeya Akter; Wenbiao Hu; Michelle Gatton; Hilary Bambrick; Suchithra Naish; Shilu Tong

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.109222

Different responses of dengue to weather variability across climate zones in Queensland, Australia

Environ Res. 2020 May:184:109222. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109222. Epub 2020 Feb 6.

Authors

Rokeya Akter¹, Wenbiao Hu², Michelle Gatton², Hilary Bambrick², Suchithra Naish², Shilu Tong³

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health and Social Work, Institute of Health & Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, 4059, Australia. Electronic address: rokeya.akter@hdr.qut.edu.au.
² School of Public Health and Social Work, Institute of Health & Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, 4059, Australia.
³ School of Public Health and Social Work, Institute of Health & Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, 4059, Australia; Shanghai Children's Medical Centre, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.

PMID: 32114157
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109222

Abstract

Background: Dengue is a significant public health concern in northern Queensland, Australia. This study compared the epidemic features of dengue transmission among different climate zones and explored the threshold of weather variability for climate zones in relation to dengue in Queensland, Australia.

Methods: Daily data on dengue cases and weather variables including minimum temperature, maximum temperature and rainfall for the period of January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2015 were obtained from Queensland Health and Australian Bureau of Meteorology, respectively. Climate zones shape file for Australia was also obtained from Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to check whether the distribution of dengue significantly differed between climate zones. Time series regression tree model was used to estimate the threshold effects of the monthly weather variables on dengue in different climate zones.

Results: During the study period, the highest dengue incidence rate was found in the tropical climate zone (15.09/10,000) with the second highest in the grassland climate zone (3.49/10,000). Dengue responded differently to weather variability in different climate zones. In every climate zone, temperature was the primary predictor of dengue. However, the threshold values, type of temperature (e.g. maximum, minimum, or mean), and lag time for dengue varied between climate zones. Monthly mean temperature above 27°C at a lag of two months and monthly minimum temperature above 22°C at a lag of one month was found to be the most favourable weather condition for dengue in the tropical and subtropical climate zone, respectively. However, in the grassland climate zone, maximum temperature above 38°C at a lag of five months was found to be the ideal condition for dengue. Monthly rainfall with threshold value of 1.7 mm was found to be a significant contributor to dengue only in the tropical climate zone.

Conclusions: The temperature threshold for dengue was lower in both tropical and subtropical climate zones than in the grassland climate zone. The different temperature threshold between climate zones suggests that an early warning system would need to be developed based on local socio-ecological conditions of the climate zone to manage dengue control and intervention programs effectively.

Keywords: Dengue; Threshold; Time series regression tree; Weather.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Climate*
Dengue* / epidemiology
Humans
Incidence
Queensland / epidemiology
Temperature
Weather*