Role of air pollutants in dengue fever incidence: evidence from two southern cities in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Air pollution may be involved in spreading dengue fever (DF) besides rainfalls and warmer temperatures. While particulate matter (PM), especially those with diameter of 10 μm (PM10) or 2.5 μm or less (PM25), and NO2 increase the risk of coronavirus 2 infection, their roles in triggering DF remain unclear. We explored if air pollution factors predict DF incidence in addition to the classic climate factors. Public databases and DF records of two southern cities in Taiwan were used in regression analyses. Month order, PM10 minimum, PM2.5 minimum, and precipitation days were retained in the enter mode model, and SO2 minimum, O3 maximum, and CO minimum were retained in the stepwise forward mode model in addition to month order, PM10 minimum, PM2.5 minimum, and precipitation days. While PM2.5 minimum showed a negative contribution to the monthly DF incidence, other variables showed the opposite effects. The sustain of month order, PM10 minimum, PM2.5 minimum, and precipitation days in both regression models confirms the role of classic climate factors and illustrates a potential biological role of the air pollutants in the life cycle of mosquito vectors and dengue virus and possibly human immune status. Future DF prevention should concern the contribution of air pollution besides the classic climate factors.

KEYWORDS:

• Dengue fever
• incidence
• surge
• month order
• SO2
• O3
• CO
• PM10
• PM2.5
• precipitation days

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/20477724.2022.2135711

Additional information

Funding

El-Wui Loh was partially supported by the Higher Education Sprout Project of the Ministry of Education (grant no.: DP2-109-21121-01-A-09), Taipei Medical University, Taipei, and two internal grants from the Taipei Medical University – Shuang Ho Hospital (grant no.: W107FRP-01-2 and 110FRP-03), New Taipei City, Taiwan. Hao-Chun Lu and Fang-Yu Lin were partially supported by the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (grant no.: NSTC110-2410-H-A49-061-MY3). Also, Yu-Tung Kao and El-Wui Loh were supported by the 2020 summer research program of the Health Sciences Education Foundation, Taiwan. The funding agents had no role in writing or the decision to submit the manuscript.