Dengue forecasting and outbreak detection in Brazil using LSTM: integrating human mobility and climate factors

Dengue fever is a major global health concern, with Brazil experiencing recurrent and severe outbreaks due to its favorable climate factors, socio-environmental conditions, and increasing human mobility. Accurate forecasting of dengue cases and outbreak risk is essential for early warning systems and effective public health interventions. Traditional forecasting models primarily rely on historical case data and climate variables, often neglecting the role of human movement in virus transmission. This study addresses this gap by incorporating human mobility data into a deep learning-based dengue forecasting framework.

An LSTM-based model was developed to forecast weekly dengue cases and detect outbreaks across selected Brazilian cities. The model integrates historical dengue cases, lagged climate variables (temperature and humidity), and human mobility-adjusted imported cases to capture both temporal trends and spatial transmission dynamics. Its performance was evaluated against three alternative models: (1) an LSTM using only dengue case data, (2) an LSTM incorporating climate variables, and (3) an LSTM integrating climate and geographic neighborhood effects. Forecasting accuracy was assessed using Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), and Continuous Ranked Probability Score (CRPS), while outbreak classification was evaluated using accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and the F1 score.

The proposed mobility-enhanced LSTM model consistently outperformed all baselines in both dengue case forecasting and outbreak detection. Across all cities, it achieved lower MAE and MAPE values, indicating improved accuracy, while also demonstrating superior CRPS performance, reflecting well-calibrated uncertainty estimates. In outbreak classification, the model achieved the highest sensitivity and F1 scores, highlighting its effectiveness in detecting outbreak periods compared to models that relied solely on case trends, climate variables, or geographic proximity. The results underscore the importance of integrating mobility data in dengue forecasting, particularly in urban centers with high population movement.

By incorporating human mobility dynamics into deep learning-based forecasting, this study presents a scalable and adaptable framework for enhancing dengue early warning systems. The proposed model provides more accurate case predictions and outbreak classifications, offering actionable insights for public health planning and resource allocation. Beyond dengue, this approach can be extended to other vector-borne diseases influenced by mobility and climate factors, supporting more effective epidemic preparedness strategies worldwide.