Dengue in Colombia: ten years of database records

Introduction: Dengue is a worldwide public health problem for which there is still no vaccine, so the knowledge of its temporal behavior could be useful for the implementation of appropriate control strategies. Objective: To analyze the incidence of dengue during the last ten years in Colombia (2004-2013), highlighting the periods and regions in which the largest number of cases was reported. Methods: We conducted a searching of dengue cases reported in Colombia between 2004 and 2013 in the database records of SIVIGILA and INS. The meteorological variables were obtained from IDEAM and its correlation with the incidence of dengue was found by the Pearson correlation method. Results: This analysis shows that every year there is an increase in the number of cases and that the most affected regions are the departments of Santander, Norte de Santander, Huila, Tolima and Valle del Cauca; with 2010 being the year with the highest record of events, with more than 150.000 cases. Discussion: The results indicate that DENV infection presents a cyclic behavior that most likely will be repeated every three or four years and the occurrence of cases can be attributed to social as well as climate changes.