A Spatially Explicit Environmental Health Surveillance Framework for Tick-Borne Diseases Metadata

Title

• Main Title A Spatially Explicit Environmental Health Surveillance Framework for Tick-Borne Diseases

Creator

• Author: Aviña, Aldo
  Creator Type: Personal

Contributor

• Chair: Oppong, Joseph R.
  Contributor Type: Personal
  Contributor Info: Major Professor
• Committee Member: Atkinson, Samuel F.
  Contributor Type: Personal
  Contributor Info: Minor Professor
• Committee Member: Tiwari, Chetan
  Contributor Type: Personal

Publisher

• Name: University of North Texas
  Place of Publication: Denton, Texas

Date

• Creation: 2010-08

Language

• English

Description

• Content Description: In this paper, I will show how applying a spatially explicit context to an existing environmental health surveillance framework is vital for more complete surveillance of disease, and for disease prevention and intervention strategies. As a case study to test the viability of a spatial approach to this existing framework, the risk of human exposure to Lyme disease will be estimated. This spatially explicit framework divides the surveillance process into three components: hazard surveillance, exposure surveillance, and outcome surveillance. The components will be used both collectively and individually, to assess exposure risk to infected ticks. By utilizing all surveillance components, I will identify different areas of risk which would not have been identified otherwise. Hazard surveillance uses maximum entropy modeling and geographically weighted regression analysis to create spatial models that predict the geographic distribution of ticks in Texas. Exposure surveillance uses GIS methods to estimate the risk of human exposures to infected ticks, resulting in a map that predicts the likelihood of human-tick interactions across Texas, using LandScan 2008TM population data. Lastly, outcome surveillance uses kernel density estimation-based methods to describe and analyze the spatial patterns of tick-borne diseases, which results in a continuous map that reflects disease rates based on population location. Data for this study was obtained from the Texas Department of Health Services and the University of North Texas Health Science Center. The data includes disease data on Lyme disease from 2004-2008, and the tick distribution estimates are based on field collections across Texas from 2004-2008.
• Physical Description: vi, 88 p. : ill., maps

Subject

• Keyword: GIS
• Keyword: environmental health
• Keyword: Lyme disease
• Keyword: tick-borne disease
• Keyword: public health surveillance
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Tick-borne diseases -- Texas.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Environmental health -- Texas.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Environmental monitoring -- Texas.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Public health surveillance -- Texas.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Medical geography -- Texas.
• Library of Congress Subject Headings: Medical mapping -- Texas.

Collection

• Name: UNT Theses and Dissertations
  Code: UNTETD

Institution

• Name: UNT Libraries
  Code: UNT

Rights

• Rights Access: public
• Rights License: copyright
• Rights Holder: Aviña, Aldo
• Rights Statement: Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Resource Type

• Thesis or Dissertation

Format

• Text

Identifier

• OCLC: 696606326
• UNT Catalog No.: b3910460
• Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metadc30432

Degree

• Degree Name: Master of Science
• Degree Level: Master's
• Degree Discipline: Applied Geography
• Academic Department: Department of Geography
• Degree Grantor: University of North Texas

Note