Contribution of Rainfall Patterns for Increased Dengue Epidemic in Sri Lanka

Dengue epidemic has become a major health issue in Asian countries including Sri Lanka. According to the World Health Organization, dengue can be considered as a high burden tropical disease. In Sri Lanka, there has been oscillation pattern in terms of the risk dengue and the number of infected persons. During the period from 1990 to 2015 Sri Lanka experienced continuing growth in dengue disease. Among the geographical areas of the country, Western, Southern and Central provinces showed a significant growth. There was a rapid expansion of the disease especially in the urbanized areas with high population density. The main objective of this study was to analyze relationships of rainfall factors and spread of dengue disease in Sri Lanka during the period of year 2004- 2015. The study was conducted using secondary data from six districts of the country. The study revealed that the rainfall factors play a vital role for the spread of the disease especially in the Colombo district. However, relatively low relationships were identified between rainfall and the spreading of the disease in other parts of the country.