Geographical Information Systems: A Tool to Map and Analyze Disease Spread

Use GIS to illustrate and understand the association between environmental factors and spread of infectious diseases. Our case studies like analyzing the association between meteorological factors and Lyme disease risk in humans in Texas, elucidating factors that contribute to contamination of produce at preharvest level and identifying disease clusters in an fungal zoonotic disease like Valley fever, examine the relationship between environmental conditions, such as climate and location, and vector distribution and abundance. The above studies show spatial epidemiology being an invaluable field in the research and surveillance of infectious disease.