Highway paving increased dengue transmission in the Peruvian Amazon.

ABSTRACT: Human mobility drives the spread of many infectious diseases, yet the health impacts of mobility changes from new infrastructure development remain poorly understood and currently not accounted for in impact assessments. We present a novel application of a quasi-experimental approach to link mobility and infectious disease, leveraging historical road upgrades as a proxy for regional mobility changes. The 2009 paving of the Interoceanic Highway through the previously isolated Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon offered a natural experiment to evaluate how highway paving influences transmission of dengue virus, a high-burden mosquito-borne disease. We compared dengue incidence data from healthcare facilities near versus far from the highway before and after paving, while controlling

SUBMITTER: Singleton AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11601761 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature