Predicting leptospirosis in the dry zone of Sri Lanka

What is it about?

Leptospirosis is a life-threatening zoonotic disease affecting both humans and animals in tropical countries. This paper explains several methods for predicting leptospirosis in a district situated in the dry zone of Sri Lanka.

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Why is it important?

Generally, it is believed that leptospirosis predominantly affects the wet zone of Sri Lanka. Therefore, the wet zone is a main interest among leptospirosis researchers in Sri Lanka. However, despite the high burden of leptospirosis in the wet zone, a considerable number of cases can be seen even in the dry zone, especially during the rainy season. Therefore, this paper gives insight into leptospirosis dynamics in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Although rainfall is a known contributory factor for the occurrence and spread of leptospirosis, this paper indicates that having rainfall over several days affects disease occurrence more than having a single high rainfall. The relative humidity is negatively associated with leptospirosis, while the environmental temperature positively correlates with leptospirosis.