A geospatial risk assessment model for leprosy in Ethiopia based on environmental thermal-hydrological regime analysis

Tadesse Argaw, Azeb and Shannon, Edward J. and Assefa, Abraham and Mikru, Fekade Silassie and Mariam , Berhane Kidane and Malone, John B. (2006) A geospatial risk assessment model for leprosy in Ethiopia based on environmental thermal-hydrological regime analysis. Geospatial health , 1 (1). pp. 105-113. ISSN 1970-7096

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Abstract

Geospatial methods were used to study the associations of the environmental thermal-hydrological regime with leprosy prevalence in the Oromia and Amhara regions of Ethiopia. Prediction models were developed that indicated leprosy prevalence was related to: (i) long-term normal climate grid data on temperature and moisture balance (rain/potential evapo-transpiration); (ii) satellite surveillance data on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and daytime earth surface temperature (Tmax) from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR); and (iii) a Genetic Algorithm Rule-Set Prediction (GARP) model based on NDVI and Tmax data in relation to leprosy prevalence data. Our results suggest that vertical transmission is not the only means of acquiring leprosy and support earlier reports that a major factor that governs transmission of leprosy is the viability of Mycobacterium leprae outside the human body which is related to the thermal-hydrologic regime of the environment.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: leprosy, epidemiology, Geographic Information Systems, remote sensing, climate, Genetic Algorithm Rule- Set Prediction (GARP)
Subjects: 600 Tecnologia - Scienze applicate > 610 Medicina e salute (Classificare qui la tecnologia dei servizi medici) > 616 Malattie (classificare qui la Clinica medica, la medicina basata sull'evidenza, la Medicina interna, la Medicina sperimentale) > 616.9 Altre malattie (altri rami della Medicina) > 616.99 Tumori, malattie contagiose > 616.998 Malattia di Hansen (lebbra)
900 Storia, Geografia e discipline ausiliarie > 910 Geografia e viaggi > 910.285 Geographic information systems
Depositing User: biblioteca 7
Date Deposited: 15 Jun 2010 12:53
Last Modified: 15 Jun 2010 12:53
URI: http://eprints.bice.rm.cnr.it/id/eprint/2781

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