Spatio-Temporal Variations of Dengue Outbreaks in Taiwan

Taiwan has experienced unprecedented dengue outbreaks in 2014 and 2015. Approximately 60,000 cases have been reported in the outbreaks which brought a significant impact on public health. Facing the global climate change and rapid urbanization, the ecology and scale of vector-borne diseases have been evolved gradually. The cause of dengue outbreaks in 2014 and 2015 is still unclear. It，s necessary to design a systematic study to investigate the characteristics of most recently dengue outbreaks and propose future strategies of disease prevention. With the availability of open data released by Taiwan government, more dengue-related information can be included in the analysis. The proposal will integrate spatial epidemiology and geographic information system (GIS) technique to reveal the characteristics of Taiwan dengue outbreaks in 2014 and 2015. The major aims will be (1) Use hotspot detection technique to compare the space-time transmission patterns between historical outbreaks and the severe outbreaks in 2014 and 2015. (2) Evaluate the influence of gas pipeline explosion in Kaohsiung City in 2014. (3) Investigate the influences of climatic anomaly on dengue transmission. (4) Evaluate the efficacy of dengue intervention measurements. Taiwan will be facing various challenges of emerging vector-borne diseases in the near future due to environmental changes and increasing international travel. The ultimate goal in this proposal is to advance our understanding of the severe dengue outbreaks in 2014 and 2015 through comprehensive spatial and temporal analysis. The results will provide useful information to modify current prevention strategies and enhance the ability of public health authority to control future outbreaks.