Using remote sensing to assess potential impacts of hurricanes on mosquito habitat formation : investigating the mechanisms for interrelationship between climate and the incidence of vector-borne diseases.

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between climate and the incidence of vector-borne disease. The climatological phenomenon El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) was found to be significant in predicting the frequency and intensity of hurricane seasons for the Atlantic Ocean and the Yucatan Peninsula between 1985 to 2007. Satellite analysis for hurricanes that impacted the Yucatan Peninsula, specifically the country of Belize, between 1995 and 2007 determined changes in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), mid-infrared range (MIR), and thermal infrared range (TIR) immediately after and one month after the hurricanes. Regression analyses found that correlations between reported cases of malaria and dengue fever for Belize and changes in the NDVI, MIR, and TIR existed between immediate and persistent impacts and disease incidence.