Estimating the effective reproduction number of dengue considering temperature-dependent generation intervals

Abstract

The effective reproduction number, Rt, is a measure of transmission that can be calculated from standard incidence data to timely detect the beginning of epidemics. It has being increasingly used for surveillance of directly transmitted diseases. However, current methods for Rt estimation do not apply for vector borne diseases, whose transmission cycle depends on temperature. Here we propose a method that provides dengue's Rt estimates in the presence of temperature-mediated seasonality and apply this method to simulated and real data from two cities in Brazil where dengue is endemic. The method shows good precision in the simulated data. When applied to the real data, it shows differences in the transmission profile of the two cities and identifies periods of higher transmission. Keywords: Dengue, Reproductive number, Generation interval