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Remote Sensing as a Landscape Epidemiologic Tool to Identify Villages at High Risk for Malaria TransmissionA landscape approach using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies was developed to discriminate between villages at high and low risk for malaria transmission, as defined by adult Anopheles albimanus abundance. Satellite data for an area in southern Chiapas, Mexico were digitally processed to generate a map of landscape elements. The GIS processes were used to determine the proportion of mapped landscape elements surrounding 40 villages where An. albimanus data had been collected. The relationships between vector abundance and landscape element proportions were investigated using stepwise discriminant analysis and stepwise linear regression. Both analyses indicated that the most important landscape elements in terms of explaining vector abundance were transitional swamp and unmanaged pasture. Discriminant functions generated for these two elements were able to correctly distinguish between villages with high ind low vector abundance, with an overall accuracy of 90%. Regression results found both transitional swamp and unmanaged pasture proportions to be predictive of vector abundance during the mid-to-late wet season. This approach, which integrates remotely sensed data and GIS capabilities to identify villages with high vector-human contact risk, provides a promising tool for malaria surveillance programs that depend on labor-intensive field techniques. This is particularly relevant in areas where the lack of accurate surveillance capabilities may result in no malaria control action when, in fact, directed action is necessary. In general, this landscape approach could be applied to other vector-borne diseases in areas where: 1. the landscape elements critical to vector survival are known and 2. these elements can be detected at remote sensing scales.
Document ID
19970031752
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Beck, Louisa R.
(Johnson Controls World Services Moffett Field, CA United States)
Rodriquez, Mario H.
(Centro de Investigacion de Paludismo Mexico)
Dister, Sheri W.
(Johnson Controls World Services Moffett Field, CA United States)
Rodriquez, Americo D.
(Centro de Investigacion de Paludismo Mexico)
Rejmankova, Eliska
(California Univ. Davis, CA United States)
Ulloa, Armando
(Centro de Investigacion de Paludismo Mexico)
Meza, Rosa A.
(Centro de Investigacion de Paludismo Mexico)
Roberts, Donald R.
(Uniformed Services Univ. of the Health Sciences Bethesda, MD United States)
Paris, Jack F.
(California State Univ. Fresno, CA United States)
Spanner, Michael A.
(Johnson Controls World Services Moffett Field, CA United States)
Washino, Robert K.
(California Univ. Davis, CA United States)
Hacker, Carl
(Texas Univ. Houston, TX United States)
Legters, Llewellyn F.
(Uniformed Services Univ. of the Health Sciences Bethesda, MD United States)
Date Acquired
August 17, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1994
Publication Information
Publication: Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg.
Publisher: The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Volume: 51
Issue: 3
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Report/Patent Number
NAS 1.15:112669
NASA-TM-112669
Accession Number
97N72400
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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