Elsevier

Health & Place

Volume 12, Issue 4, December 2006, Pages 715-727
Health & Place

A web-based multimedia spatial information system to document Aedes aegypti breeding sites and dengue fever risk along the US–Mexico border

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2005.10.001Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper describes a web-based multimedia spatial information system used to support a study of the re-invasion of Aedes aegypti, the mosquito vector for dengue fever, in the deserts of the southwest United States/northwest Mexico. The system was developed applying Open Geospatial Consortium and World Wide Web Consortium Open Specifications and using Open Source Software. The system creates a sensory-rich environment, one which allows users to interact with the system to explore connections among data (maps, remotely sensed images, text, graphs, 360° panoramas and photos), visualize information, formulate their own interpretations, generate hypotheses and reach their own conclusions.

Introduction

Aedes aegypti is the principal vector of the dengue viruses as well as yellow fever. The etiological agents of dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever are four antigenically related, but distinct viruses, DEN 1, DEN 2, DEN 3, and DEN 4 which are classified in the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. In addition, there are multiple genotypes. All four serotypes can cause dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever, diseases characterized by sudden onset of fever and headache often accompanied by myalgia, anorexia, arthralgia, and in the case of dengue hemorrhagic fever, increased vascular permeability (Halstead, 1997).

An estimated one-half of the world's population lives in regions infested by Ae. aegypti, and an estimated 50–100 million cases of dengue occur annually (Pinheiro and Corber, 1997; Guzman and Kouri, 2003). In 1998, major epidemics occurred in both Asia and the Americas, with more than 1.2 million reported cases (Gubler, 2002). Currently, dengue causes more illness and death than any other arbovirus affecting humans (Gubler, 2002). Mortality is low in the presence of optimal medical care, but can be significantly higher in developing nations (Gubler, 1997) with case fatality rates with dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome ranging from 10% to 30% in some countries (DeRoeck et al., 2003).

The field study described in this paper documents the re-invasion of Ae. aegypti into the desert southwest of the United States/northwest Mexico. Field studies are critical to an understanding of human–environmental changes that may contribute to the expansion of this dengue vector's habitat, increasing the risk of dengue outbreaks in areas that are currently non-endemic.

Several limitations affect the traditional field studies of Ae. aegypti and dengue fever. The original data are kept in paper records that have limited distribution and are hard to access as these records do not have dynamic links to other information such as maps, photos, satellite images or databases. As a result, subjective estimations, partial descriptions, and/or poorly defined terms are used to describe breeding sites thus preventing current and future researchers from eliciting a clear picture of the sites’ environment and conditions. Furthermore, the results presented at conferences and in journal articles do not provide easy access to the original, unfiltered data for current and future researchers, and as such, the geographical information, sampling data and the results of these studies are not easily accessible to public health officials to help them assess the risk of, plan for and/or respond to a dengue outbreak.

This paper presents an approach for the development of a web-based multimedia geographic information system (MM-GIS) based on the use of Open Source Software (OSS) and Open Specifications (OS) that addresses these limitations. The system provides easy and timely access to the original surveillance fieldwork data, and also through cross links to geographical, attribute, and multimedia elements it aims to provide a detailed, clear, and unbiased description of the environment of the sampling sites allowing researchers to have a strong and rich sense of presence on the site. The geographical information and surveillance results contained in the system also support and enhance the ability of public health officials to assess the risk of, plan for and/or respond to a dengue outbreak. The system is part of a 3-year research project funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Global Programs, National Science Foundation (NSF), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) documenting the re-invasion of Ae. aegypti into the desert southwest along the US–Mexico border after a 50 year absence (Engelthaler et al., 1997) and examining human–environmental conditions that are correlated with Ae. aegypti populations.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: the following section provides a brief overview of dengue fever and its primary vector in the Americas; the subsequent section presents the context in which the web-based MM-GIS was developed and explains the information needs that led to its creation; the next section provides a general background on OSS, OS, visualization, MM-GIS and GIS on the web. It also explains the design and development strategies for the creation of the web-based MM-GIS system, and finally describes the multimedia visualization and exploration capabilities of the system; the penultimate section provides examples of how the system is being used to support the Ae. aegypti habitat analysis research and public health activities geared toward planning, and if necessary, responding to a dengue fever outbreak; the final section presents the discussion and conclusions of this paper; finally, the appendix provides detailed information and references to the technologies used to create the web-based MM-GIS system.

Section snippets

Brief overview of dengue fever and Aedes aegypti

The current world-wide tropical and semi-tropical distribution of Ae. aegypti is due to its close association with humans (Wallis et al., 1983). Originally an African species, modern Ae. aegypti includes at least two subspecies—an African sylvatic tree—hole breeding subspecies Ae. aegypti formosus and a cosmopolitan human commensal subspecies Ae. aegypti aegypti (Mattingly, 1957). The domestic aegypti subspecies exhibits several important behavioral differences from the sylvatic form, including

Context and the need for the web-based MM-GIS system

Several issues led to the creation of the functionality present in the web-based MM-GIS system here described: First, there was the need to provide timely access of surveillance results to dengue researchers, personnel from several federal, state, and local public health agencies on both sides of the US–Mexico border that participated in this research. Second, public health agencies needed a system that would facilitate the coordination of cross-border multi-agency efforts to assess the risk of

The web-based MM-GIS

This section first defines visualization, MM-GIS and web-GIS, and briefly describes the characteristics that make them relevant to the work presented in this paper. Later we present the development strategy, and the functionality offered by the web-based MM-GIS.

The end users’ information needs and the characteristics of the spatial information infrastructures existing in health organizations on both sides of the border led us to the idea of using a combination of OS and OSS technologies (see

Use of the web-based MM-GIS to support the Ae. aegypti habitat analysis research and public health activities

The web-based MM-GIS presented in this paper is a prototype for the examination of human–environmental conditions which have contributed to the proliferation of an insect disease vector outside of its traditional habitat. The following examples illustrate how the system is being used to strengthen the Ae. aegypti habitat analysis research, and how in its current prototype stage is already contributing to support public health activities.

One of the research questions was to find out if there are

Discussion and conclusions

The ability of current and future researchers to generate hypotheses that help explain the changes in the geographical distribution of Ae. aegypti depend on having easy access to the original fieldwork data; geographical and attribute information that provides a more detailed, clearer (to the extent that the best available data allows), and unfiltered description of the environment around the breeding sampling sites; information that enhances the sense of presence on the sites; and a

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for funding support provided by NOAA (grant number #NA16GP2615) for this research. We would like to thank personnel from the Office of Border Health and the Arizona Department of Health Services for their assistance in facilitating the success of this project. In particular, we would like to express our appreciation to Dr. Frank Ramberg from the University of Arizona for his surveillance assistance, Dr. Cecilia Rosales, Arizona Department of Health Services, Dr. Enrique

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