Introduction: The intense urbanization process has resulted in the reduction of forested areas, which poses an additional risk to public health. The aim of this study was to identify environmental variables in an urban community associated with the chances of injuries (bites/scratches) in humans caused by bats.
Methodology: The study community was the Historic Center District of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The cases were the official records of households that reported injuries in humans caused by bats along the historical series from 2012 to 2015. Controls were selected from households near the cases without records of injuries involving bats. Univariate analysis was performed for the data using the chi-square and Fisher's exact test. Significant variables (p < 0.05) were included in the logistic regression models.
Results: The variable for bats having access to households via defective/broken windows showed an association with the cases in the final model (OR = 45.14, CI = 6.08-335.10). The variables presence of domiciled dogs (OR = 6.04, CI = 1.44-25.92) and exposed fruit (OR = 4.41, CI 95% = 1.15-16.9) were significant factors.
Conclusion: The results shows that access to the residence and supply of food that can be used by bats are factors that increase the chances of injuries in humans caused by these animals possibly increasing the risk of infectious diseases.
Keywords: Synanthropic bats; eco-epidemiology; infectious diseases prevention.
Copyright (c) 2019 Norlan Jesus Santos, Ianei Carneiro, Aroldo Borges, Elen Paz, Ricardo Lustosa, Carlos Franke.