Oecologia Australis 14(3): 641-667, Setembro 2010 doi:10.4257/oeco.2010.1403.04 DENGUE AND LAND COVER HETEROGENEITY IN RIO DE JANEIRO Maria Goreti Rosa-Freitas1,*, Pantelis Tsouris2, Izabel Cristina Reis3, Mônica de Avelar Figueiredo Mafra Magalhães4, Teresa Fernandes Silva do Nascimento1 & Nildimar Alves Honório1 1 Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Transmissores de Hematozoários, Departamento de Entomologia, Caixa Postal: 926, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil - CEP: 21045-900. 2 Freitas & Tsouris Consultants (FTC), Post Office Box 117. Spata, Áttica, Greece - ZIP: 19004. 3 Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), Departamento de Processamento de Imagem, Caixa Postal: 515, São José dos Campos, SP, Brasil. CEP: 12227-010. 4 Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Centro de Informação Científica e Tecnológica, Laboratório de Geoprocessamento, Caixa Postal: 926, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil - CEP: 21045-900. E-mails:
[email protected],
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[email protected], honorio@ioc. fiocruz.br ABSTRACT Dengue epidemics in Brazil have become more frequent and more severe and involving larger populations in the last years. In Brazil Aedes aegypti is the only known vector. During the 2007–2008 period, Rio de Janeiro state experienced the most severe dengue epidemics ever reported in terms of morbidity and mortality. During this period, 322,371 cases and 240 deaths were registered, with 100 deaths due to dengue haemorragic fever/ dengue shock syndrome and 140 due to other dengue-related complications. Dengue transmission is influenced by closely related factors, many of which directly associated to the environment.