Natural-focal diseases: mapping experience in Russia

Abstract

BackgroundNatural-focal diseases constitute a serious hazard for human health. Agents and vectors of such diseases belong to natural landscapes. The aim of this study is to identify the diversity and geography of natural-focal diseases in Russia and to develop cartographic approaches for their mapping, including mathematical-cartographical modeling. Russian medico-geographical mapping of natural-focal diseases is highly developed regionally and locally but extremely limited at the national level. To solve this problem, a scientific team of the Faculty of Geography at Lomonosov Moscow State University has developed and implemented a project of a medico-geographical Atlas of Russia “Natural-Focal Diseases”.MethodsThe mapping is based on medical statistics data. The Atlas contains a series of maps on disease incidence, long-term dynamics of disease morbidity, etc. In addition, other materials available to the authors were used: mapping of the natural environment, field data, archival materials, analyzed satellite images, etc. The maps are processed using ArcGIS (ESRI) software application. Different methods of rendering of mapped phenomena are used (geographical ranges, diagrams, choropleth maps etc.).ResultsA series of analytical, integrated, and synthetic maps shows disease incidence in the population at both the national and regional levels for the last 15 years. Maps of the mean annual morbidity of certain infections and maps of morbidity dynamics and nosological profiles allow for a detailed analysis of the situation for each of 83 administrative units of the Russian Federation. The degree of epidemic hazard in Russia by natural-focal diseases is reflected in a synthetic medico-geographical map that shows the degree of epidemic risks due to such diseases in Russia and allows one to estimate the risk of disease manifestation in a given region.ConclusionsThis is the first attempt at aggregation and public presentation of diverse and multifaceted information about natural-focal diseases in Russia. Taken in entirety, the maps that have been prepared for the Atlas will enable researchers to evaluate the stability of epidemic manifestation of individual diseases and the susceptibility of a given territory to disease transmission. The results can be used for sanitary monitoring and disease prevention.

Evolution of research in health geographics through the International Journal of Health Geographics (2002–2015)

“…Some are centered on data-related methodological difficulties, whether these are linked to geo-referencing or cartographic representation, for example they are about how difficult it is to have access to Gis data on a fine scale in some rural regions, and how useful it is then to rely on previously trained community health workers in order to obtain data on the repartition of safe water for people in northern Rwanda [ 37 ]. These articles also deal with the development of pertinent cartographic approaches to represent, for example, the risk linked to natural-focal diseases [ 38 ], or for better distributing healthcare resources in developing countries [ 39 ]. The scale of work seems to be different, the areas being bigger at a regional scale [ 40 ] or national [ 41 ], it is more about assessing or comparing health systems [ 42 ], access to healthcare [ 43 ] or health situations [ 44 ], transposing methods from a country to another rather than within a limited space where one tries to evaluate one’s ability to act on its inhabitants.…”

Fascioliasis: A Foodborne Disease of Veterinary and Zoonotic Importance

“…In 1939, Eugene Pavlovsky, a Russian Academician propounded the theory of disease focality, which suggests that some disease-causing organisms (pathogens) naturally occur in specific ecosystems [49,50]. This implies that the population of the pathogens is an integral part of that natural landscape [51].…”

Actual Tick-Borne Infections in Crimea

“…С учетом вышеизложенного, понятна акту-альность проблемы, а главное -что явление природной очаговости является широко рас-пространенным как в мире [33], так и в Респуб-лике Крым. При этом значительный интерес для полуострова ввиду сложившихся природ-ных условий представляют инфекции, живыми факторами передачи которых являются клещи: болезнь Лайма, клещевой вирусный энцефалит, марсельская и Конго-Крымская геморрагичес-кая лихорадки.…”