Abstract
Background: Leptospirosis is one of the zoonotic diseases which pose major public
health issues worldwide. The spread of leptospirosis depends on the climate conditions
as well as environmental conditions.
Methods: The cases of leptospirosis were determined by using database obtained from
Ministry of Health, Malaysia. Case cluster and hot spot analysis within Geographical
Information System (GIS) were done using ArcGIS version 9.3. Level of significance
was set at alpha= 0.05.
Results: Most of the cases were at the centre Pahang located along the flood hazard
stream. Cluster analysis indicated that cases were mostly clustered near illegal and
legal dumping sites. The outliers were Jerantut, Maran, Pekan, and Rompin in both
maps (p<0.05). The hot spot analysis obtained an obvious trend in the legal dumping
compared to the illegal dumping. The hot spot area was found in the middle of Pahang
such as in Jerantut, Temerloh, Maran, Pekan, and Rompin.
Conclusions Increasing flood risk, poor sanitation and abundance of rats are conditions
that trigger leptospirosis outbreaks. Interventions are therefore needed, targeting at
environmental sources of transmission namely open legal and illegal dumping sites as
well as flooding in flood hazard areas. A refined waste management system is needed
to control the spread of the disease.
Hayati K.S, Sharifah Norkhadijah, Salmiah M.S, Edre M.A., Khin T.D.. (2018) Hot-spot and cluster analysis on legal and illegal dumping sites as the contributors of leptospirosis in a flood hazard area in Pahang, Malaysia, Asian Journal of Agriculture and Biology, Volume 6, Special Issue.
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