The Integrated System for Public Health Monitoring of West Nile Virus (ISPHM-WNV): a real-time GIS for surveillance and decision-making

Abstract

BackgroundAfter its first detection in North America in New York in 1999, West Nile virus was detected for the first time in 2002 in the province of Quebec, Canada. This situation forced the Government of Quebec to adopt a public health protection plan against the virus. The plan comprises several fields of intervention including the monitoring of human cases, Corvidae and mosquitoes in order to ensure the early detection of the presence of the virus in a particular area. To help support the monitoring activities, the Integrated System for Public Health Monitoring of West Nile Virus (ISPHM-WNV) has been developed.ResultsThe ISPHM-WNV is a real-time geographic information system for public health surveillance of West Nile virus and includes information on Corvidae, mosquitoes, humans, horses, climate, and preventive larvicide interventions. It has been in operation in the province of Quebec, Canada, since May 2003. The ISPHM-WNV facilitates the collection, localization, management and analysis of monitoring data; it also allows for the display of the results of analyses on maps, tables and statistical diagrams.ConclusionThe system is very helpful for field workers in all regions of the province, as well as for central authorities. It represents the common authoritative source of data for analysis, exchange and decision-making.

Exploring the Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Reservoir Hosts, Vectors, and Human Hosts of West Nile Virus: A Review of the Recent Literature

“…The importance of climatic factors in Liu’s model were in agreement with reports by Gosselin et. al [118] and Nielsen [124] suggesting real-time climate data can be useful in WNV risk prediction.…”

“…A Canadian study by Gosselin et al . [118] developed a real-time GIS for public health surveillance of WNV in response to the first outbreak detected in the province of Quebec, Canada in 2002. This study did not explicitly describe the analytical methods used for monitoring and identification of areas for potential transmission to humans but rather how Quebec developed a public health plan that would help monitor human cases and look for ways of intervention.…”

“…Public health officials are increasingly challenged to assess the prevalence and to determine the most common risk factors, as well as to track their trends over time. Very few studies have made the leap from spatial prediction to risk-based surveillance [69,118,136]. Deviation from use of linear models to more powerful nonparametric models such as computational neural networks that capture non-linear relationships with greater accuracy have more applicability in prevention and control, especially for chemical control vector abatement programs [138,139].…”

“…[98] also reported on the West Nile Virus Information System (WeNiVIS) [117] and the integrated system for public health monitoring of West Nile virus (ISPHM-WNV) [118] in their review. These internet-based Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS) provide visual analysis of the distribution of WNV in North America, and include spatial and temporal querying capabilities.…”

Clinical, epidemiological, and spatial characteristics of Vibrio parahaemolyticus diarrhea and cholera in the urban slums of Kolkata, India

“…To detect potential geographic areas of high risk for the diseases, the spatial scan test has been widely used in recent times [15-18]. The spatial scan test is also suitable for uneven geographic distribution of cases and population density [19].…”