Impacts of Urbanization and Habitat Characteristics on the Human Risk of West Nile Disease in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Since its initial identification in 1999, West Nile virus has spread rapidly throughout North America, exhibiting high spatial heterogeneity. Previous studies exploring the spatial patterns of the human risk of West Nile Disease (WND) in the United States have demonstrated the important roles of landscape and climatic factors. However, relatively few studies have endeavored to elucidate the effects of habitat fragmentation on WND risk, though it has been considered to affect disease risk through its influence on host community composition, vector abundance and human-vector-host interactions. In this study, we investigated and compared the effects of landscape factors, with a particular focus on habitat fragmentation, on the human risk of WND in the eastern and western United States. Our re

SUBMITTER: Ma J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11939350 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature