ABSTRACT Aedes (Stegomya) aegypti is the classic vector of the Dengue virus and is responsible for transmitting urban yellow fever, Chikungunya, and Zika, all of which are emerging diseases in the Brazilian national territory. Studies show that climatic variables influence the development of the dengue-transmitting mosquito and consequently the abundance and dispersal of this insect in the environment. The main goal of this study is the evaluation of the influence of climatic variables upon the population dynamics of Aedes aegypti, using secondary data, in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Two time-series were used: building infestation index and abiotic data (rainfall, air temperature, relative humidity) both from 2008 to 2013. We applied the arithmetic means for all the variables in order to obtain a single annual value. After that, we used the normality test of Lilliefors in order to check whether the data had a normal distribution pattern. Then, we did a curve adjustment to identify the best model regression method for the observation of the relationship between the variables. The model that showed the highest coefficient of determination value was used as a standard for the analysis. The analyses were done considering a level of 5% significance at the minimum and they were conducted using the Bioestat software 5.3 version. A significant and a positive relationship was observed (p-value < 0.05) between rainfall and household infestation rate. The relationship between air temperature and household infestation rate was not significant (p-value > 0.05); however a negative tendency was observed, that is, as the air temperature lowers, the household infestation rate grows. It was possible to observe a positive significant relationship (p-value < 0.05) between air relative humidity and household infestation rate. Thus, the results obtained suggest that rainfall and air humidity interfere on the population dynamics of Aedes aegypti from Rio de Janeiro over the years.
Buy this Article
|