The disease ecology of a small cul de sac: Chandigarh Dun

Abstract

The Chandigarh Dun is a classic example of what Jaques M. May termed an “ecological niche”. While Chandigarh Dun is a relatively small region with respect to others in India, it nonetheless displays an impressive diversity of diseases related to the rather unique ecology and culture of a physiographic cul de sac. Infectious diseases predominate health problems, and they can be associated with physiographic conditions, the settlement morphology, and behavioral aspects of the people. Such diseases of major importance as malaria, typhoid fever, hookworm disease, and endemic goitre can be associated with the overall geomorphological setting, soils and vegetation, microclimatic conditions, and surface and sub-surface hydrology. Within the Dun, these and other major diseases display a spatial association with pathogenic, geogenic and cultural factors. On the basis of current knowledge of disease ecological problems, four zones, each with somewhat distinct combinations of disease and ecological associations, have been identified.