Spatio-Temporal Outbreak Detection of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever in Phayao, Thailand.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to detect the spatio-temporal outbreak of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) in Phayao province, Thailand. This study utilized data collected from DHF patients at village level in 2010. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to prepare the spatial data for analyzing the DHF outbreaks. In data analysis, the space-time permutation scan statistic was used to determine whether the DHF signals occurred by chance in space and time. In the study, the detected DHF outbreaks were observed at statistically significant levels (p ≤ 0.05), and were found in different places and times of the study area.