Global Climate Teleconnections to Forecast Increased Risk of Vector-Borne Animal and Human Disease Transmission

Authors: Linthicum, Kenneth - Ken; ANYAMBA, ASSAF - National Aeronautics And Space Administration (NASA); Gibson, Seth; SMALL, JENNIFER - National Aeronautics And Space Administration (NASA); TUCKER, COMPTON - National Aeronautics And Space Administration (NASA); PAK, EDWIN - National Aeronautics And Space Administration (NASA)

Submitted to: Entomology Society of America Pacific Branch Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2016
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: We willexamine how climate teleconnect ions and variability impact vector biology and vector borne disease ecology, and demonstrate that global climate monitoring can be used to anticipate and forecast epidemics and epizootics. In this context we willexamine significant worldwide weather anomalies that affected vector-borne disease outbreaks during the last few years. Utilizing historical and current vegetation index and land surface temperature data from NASA's satellite based Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to map the magnitude and extent of these anomalies for diverse regions including the continental United States,Russia, East Africa, Southern Africa, and Australia we demonstrate that shifts in temperature and/or precipitation have significant impacts on vegetation patterns with consequences for public health. Weather extremes resulted in excessive rainfall and flooding as well as severe drought created exceptional conditions for extensive mosquito­ borne disease outbreaks of dengue, Rift Valley fever,Murray Valley encephalitis,and West Nile virus disease. We describe how vector-borne disease risks may develop globally as current El Nino conditions continue to develop in the spring of 2016.