Introduction Dengue fever is an arboviruse of great importance in public health. Currently, the urban population modus vivendi favours transmission and maintenance of breeding sites of the vector, Aedes aegypti. Given the complexity of vector control, epidemiological surveillance for early case detection is of fundamental importance for the prevention of outbreaks of major proportions. This research aims to study the spatial distribution of the risk of dengue in the city of Campinas from January to December 2007.

Methods Spatial RR of dengue fever was calculated for each 4 weeks in Campinas using generalised additive model in a case-control study. All 9018 reported and confirmed autochthonous dengue fever cases of residents in the municipality were geocoded, while controls were generated from a representative sample of the population of Campinas based on IBGE census.

Results Maps show the temporal evolution and spatial distribution of dengue fever risk on the territory. Highest risk areas coincide with those of greater movement of people and lack of infrastructure in the municipality.

Conclusion The method was suitable for identifying risk areas, in which government's actions should be efficient and constant.