Improving public health intervention for mosquito-borne disease: the value of geovisualization using source of infection and LandScan data

Date

2016

Authors

Flies, E.
WILLIAMS, C.
Weinstein, P.
Anderson, S.

Editors

Advisors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Type:

Journal article

Citation

Epidemiology and Infection, 2016; 144(14):3108-3119

Statement of Responsibility

E. J. Flies, C. R. Williams, P. Weinstein and S. J. Anderson

Conference Name

Abstract

Epidemiological studies use georeferenced health data to identify disease clusters but the accuracy of this georeferencing is obfuscated by incorrectly assigning the source of infection and by aggregating case data to larger geographical areas. Often, place of residence (residence) is used as a proxy for the source of infection (source) which may not be accurate. Using a 21-year dataset from South Australia of human infections with the mosquito-borne Ross River virus, we found that 37% of cases were believed to have been acquired away from home. We constructed two risk maps using age-standardized morbidity ratios (SMRs) calculated using residence and patient-reported source. Both maps confirm significant inter-suburb variation in SMRs. Areas frequently named as the source (but not residence) and the highest-risk suburbs both tend to be tourist locations with vector mosquito habitat, and camping or outdoor recreational opportunities. We suggest the highest-risk suburbs as places to focus on for disease control measures. We also use a novel application of ambient population data (LandScan) to improve the interpretation of these risk maps and propose how this approach can aid in implementing disease abatement measures on a smaller scale than for which disease data are available.

School/Discipline

Dissertation Note

Provenance

Description

First published online 23 June 2016

Access Status

Rights

© Cambridge University Press 2016

License

Grant ID

Call number

Persistent link to this record