The neglected role of relative humidity in the interannual variability of urban malaria in Indian cities.

ABSTRACT: The rapid pace of urbanization makes it imperative that we better understand the influence of climate forcing on urban malaria transmission. Despite extensive study of temperature effects in vector-borne infections in general, consideration of relative humidity remains limited. With process-based dynamical models informed by almost two decades of monthly surveillance data, we address the role of relative humidity in the interannual variability of epidemic malaria in two semi-arid cities of India. We show a strong and significant effect of humidity during the pre-transmission season on malaria burden in coastal Surat and more arid inland Ahmedabad. Simulations of the climate-driven transmission model with the MLE (Maximum Likelihood Estimates) of the parameters retrospectively capture the o

SUBMITTER: Santos-Vega M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8795427 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature