A spatial analysis on dengue outbreaks in Tamil Nadu, 2013-2018

In ‘epidemiology it is very important to develop surveillance systems that are being used to detect disease outbreaks. The requirements for such systems are the data related to cases and various risk factors associated with the disease over time. Meaningful information can be obtained from the collected data using statistical analysis which could be used for effective disease control. However, a geo-visualization approach by adding spatial parameters would be more informative through which one can identify the spatial patterns or space or space-time clusters of the disease. In this work, Space-time analysis using the Poisson model assumption is used for the identification of potential disease clusters of dengue in Tamil Nadu, using SaTScan and open-source Aeronautical Reconnaissance Coverage Geographic Information System (ArcGIS) software. Maps of the geographical location of disease clusters are provided to enhance the understanding of the results of statistical analysis.