Vector-borne parasitic diseases: new trends in data collection and risk assessment

Climates and topography effectively restrict vector-borne infections to certain geographical areas, a clear illustration of how strongly the spatial distributions of these diseases rely on environmental factors. This is hardly a new revelation, but just a few years back, without the support of computer-assisted collection and handling of data, we were far less able to grasp the full picture. Fortunately climate data collection by Remote Sensing (RS) by earth-observing satellites, a technology particularly well suited to pinpointing constraining endemic factors, has not only become affordable but also reached a high degree of sophistication. Meanwhile, geographical information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS) permit spatial information of great accuracy as well as digitalization of collected data on the spot enabling visualization of the data in relation to physical maps and facilitating comparisons of the results of longitudinal investigations. Adoption of these technologies at the national level promotes intersectoral collaboration and promises improved planning and management in the control of endemic diseases. Applications in areas such as malaria, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, trypanosomiasis and schistosomiasis are briefly reviewed. Reports in the fields of the former two diseases dominate the literature, while information is lagging with regard to the others. The need for a broadening of the GIS approach is emphasized with the aim of rejuvenating the dynamic aspect of epidemiological studies.