1. Detecting spatial clusters of human scabies in Tigray, Ethiopia from 2018 to 2023
- Author
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Akeza Awealom Asgedom, Micheale Hagos Debesay, Chigozie Louisa J. Ugwu, and Woldegebriel Assefa Woldegerima
- Subjects
Scabies ,Tigray Ethiopia ,Cluster analysis ,Spatial scan statistics ,Relative risk ,Infectious and parasitic diseases ,RC109-216 - Abstract
Abstract Background Scabies is one of public health concerns among communicable disease in Ethiopia, especially among disadvantaged and the poor. This current study aims to detect the spatiotemporal patterns of scabies in Tigray from 2018 to 2023 using scabies data aggregated at the zonal level. The study also examined the persistent patterns in the spatial variation of scabies incidence across the administrative regions during the study period. Method We collected scabies data using a weekly disease surveillance reporting format of the country from 2018 to 2023 across all accessible district health facilities in Tigray region, Ethiopia. We conducted retrospective analyses using both purely spatial and spatiotemporal scan statistic approaches, employing a discrete Poisson probability model to identify statistically significant clusters of high scabies rates throughout the Tigray regional zones in Ethiopia. Our methodology involved the use of Kulldorff’s spatial scan statistic software (SaTScan v10.1.3), R programming software version 4.3.1, and ArcGIS Pro for all analyses. Results A total of 101,116 cases of scabies were reported from 2018 to 2023. Our study indicated a spatial heterogeneity in the pattern of scabies across Tigray region as well as its localization among geographically contiguous zones across space, except for the Western zone of Tigray where no data was collected. The detected statistically significant spatial clusters $$\:p-value
- Published
- 2024
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