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Volume 26, Number 2—February 2020
Dispatch

Influence of Rainfall on Leptospira Infection and Disease in a Tropical Urban Setting, Brazil

Kathryn P. Hacker1, Gielson A. Sacramento1, Jaqueline S. Cruz, Daiana de Oliveira, Nivison Nery, Janet C. Lindow, Mayara Carvalho, Jose Hagan, Peter J. Diggle, Mike Begon, Mitermayer G. Reis, Elsio A. Wunder, Albert I. Ko1, and Federico Costa1Comments to Author 
Author affiliations: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (K.P. Hacker); Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA (K.P. Hacker, J.C. Lindow, J. Hagan, E.A. Wunder, Jr., A.I. Ko, F. Costa); Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Salvador, Brazil (G.A. Sacramento, J.S. Cruz, D. de Oliveira, N. Nery, Jr., J.C. Lindow, M. Carvalho, J. Hagan, M.G Reis, A.I. Ko, F. Costa); Montana State University Bozeman, Bozeman, Montana, USA (J.C. Lindow); Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK (P.J. Diggle); Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA (P.J. Diggle); University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (M. Begon); Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador (M.G. Reis, F. Costa)

Main Article

Table 1

Cumulative rainfall, citywide incidence of leptospirosis requiring hospitalization, and incidence of Leptospira infection among a community-based cohort in Salvador, Brazil, 2013–2015*

Follow-up period (dates)* Cumulative rainfall, cm (+ SD)† Hospitalizations/100,000 population‡
Leptospira infection in period§
No. cases Incidence (95% CI) No. infected Incidence (95% CI)
1 (2013 Feb 2–Sep 10) 126 (+ 13) 88 3.29 (2.67–4.01) 44 5.11 (3.74–6.80)
2 (2013 Sep 10–2014 Mar 14) 81 (+ 21) 46 1.72 (1.26–2.29) 74 8.60 (6.81–10.67)
3 (2014 Mar 14–2014 Aug 8) 93 (+ 16) 40 1.50 (1.07–2.04) 18 2.09 (1.24–3.28)
4 (2014 Aug 8–2015 Mar 3) 57 (+ 11) 23 0.86 (0.54–1.29) 42 4.88 (3.54–6.54)

*We conducted 5 semiannual follow-up surveys for a community-based cohort of 861 residents of a community within Salvador, Brazil. A period was defined as the interval between 2 consecutive surveys.
†The source of rainfall data is 4 weather stations maintained by the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Water Resources (Instituto do Meio Ambiente e Recursos Hidrilcos), located 1.6 km from the study site.
‡Cases of hospitalized leptospirosis per 100,000 population in the city of Salvador, Brazil (pop. 2,675,656 in 2010), during the follow-up period.
§We performed microscopic agglutination test to evaluate serologic evidence of Leptospira infections between 2 consecutive surveys. Cumulative incidence was calculated as the number of infections per 861 cohort subjects multiplied by 100.

Main Article

1These authors contributed equally to this article.

Page created: January 19, 2020
Page updated: January 19, 2020
Page reviewed: January 19, 2020
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