BACKGROUND / OBJECTIVES: The Municipality of Mossoró, in Rio Grande do Norte State in Brazil, has a high incidence of Hansen's disease (HD). New case detection rate has increased from 2.78 in 1998 to 5.08 new cases per 10.000 population in 2002. New patients have been registered in all urban zones but there is concentration in some areas. This study used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to determine the spatial localization of HD cases, trying to get a better understanding of epidemiological aspects at the municipal level. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was carried out in the urban area of Mossoró and used as its cartographic base the standard map of the city and images from Ikonos Satellite, and SINAN Database (Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação). The addresses of 358 new cases diagnosed from 1998 to 2002 were selected to be geo-referenced using a GPS hand held device (Magellan 320). Geographic analysis was done using ArcView 9.0. RESULTS: 281 addresses (78.5% of the total) were localized showing high concentration of cases in Barrocas, Santo Antônio, Bom Jardim e Paredões neighborhoods. The maps were used to choose an endemic area where a case detection campaign was carried out and had the positive outcome of 30 new cases of HD detected in only one week (equivalent of 27% of all new cases detected in 2004). CONCLUSION: The use of GIS in HD proved to be extremely efficient, revealing the spatial pattern of case distribution and guiding the execution of activities with important cost reduction.
Spatial analisis; ArcView; Epidemilogy; Georeferencing; Leprosy; GIS
