GEOGRAPHICAL-DISTRIBUTION OF DENGUE AND SOCIOECONOMIC-FACTORS IN AN URBAN LOCALITY IN SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Introduction The incidence of dengue Ise,lr,ll type II ill the city of S. Jose do Rio Preto during an epidemic which occurred in the first s emester of 1995 is analyzed in terms of geographical areas defined by socioeconomic variables.Material and Method The epidemiological method of analysis is the ''ecological study'' type. To calculate the coeffi cient of incidence of dengue, all cases both confirmed and reported be tween January and July, 1995 are considered. The environmental units a re defined according to socioeconomic variables based on the IBGE (Bra zilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) Census of 1991, through cluster analysis. The linear correlation coefficient between coefficie nt of incidence and environmental variables is also calculated. Result s and Discussion Three distinct environmental units are identified and described on the basis of both economic and educational level. The co efficient of incidence of dengue varied in accordance with the environ mental unit: irt the unit of low standard the coefficient,was 2.7 time s greater than that of the unit of highest standard, showing that in t hese units the determining factors of dengue have a differentiating ef fect. The roles of some of the determining factors such as population density, basic sanitary services and vector density are discussed. The importance of this study for the control of dengue is also emphasized .