In this paper, the influence of land cover and land use on the rabies in Jacareí and Santa Branca municipalities, Paraíba's Valley of the State of Sao Paulo was evaluated by combining the Landsat satellite images mapping with data of rabies occurrence, in 2002-2009. Wildlife roadkills, urban bats, Desmodus rotundus bats from rural areas and livestock were considered. Ten samples were rabies-positive, being three insectivorous bats from the urban Jacareí, and seven livestock, being two from Jacarei and five from Santa Branca. None of the wildlife examined was rabies-positive. The landscape and land use analysis found that no significant changes occurred. Although the disease has occurred even without apparent changes in the region, probably due to the scale used in this study, it was concluded that the reforestation and agriculture areas were associated to the disease to show major frequency in the analyzed areas.
Public Health; Mapping; Rabies; Bats; Remote Sensing
