Predicting outbreaks: a spatial risk assessment of West Nile virus in British Columbia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

West Nile virus (WNv) has recently emerged as a health threat to the North American population. After the initial disease outbreak in New York City in 1999, WNv has spread widely and quickly across North America to every contiguous American state and Canadian province, with the exceptions of British Columbia (BC), Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. In this study we develop models of mosquito population dynamics for Culex tarsalis and C. pipiens, and create a spatial risk assessment of WNv prior to its arrival in BC by creating a raster-based mosquito abundance model using basic geographic and temperature data. Among the parameters included in the model are spatial factors determined from the locations of BC Centre for Disease Control mosquito traps (e.g., distance of

SUBMITTER: Tachiiri K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1523258 | biostudies-literature | 2006 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature