A Predictive Spatial Model to Quantify the Risk of Air-Travel-Associated Dengue Importation into the United States and Europe

The number of travel-acquired dengue infections has been on a constant rise in the United States and Europe over the past decade. An increased volume of international passenger air traffic originating from regions with endemic dengue contributes to the increasing number of dengue cases. This paper r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Tropical Medicine
Main Authors: Lauren M. Gardner, David Fajardo, S. Travis Waller, Ophelia Wang, Sahotra Sarkar
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/103679
https://doaj.org/article/8081682e1c954f9796890aaa9aa63fe9
Description
Summary:The number of travel-acquired dengue infections has been on a constant rise in the United States and Europe over the past decade. An increased volume of international passenger air traffic originating from regions with endemic dengue contributes to the increasing number of dengue cases. This paper reports results from a network-based regression model which uses international passenger travel volumes, travel distances, predictive species distribution models (for the vector species), and infection data to quantify the relative risk of importing travel-acquired dengue infections into the US and Europe from dengue-endemic regions. Given the necessary data, this model can be used to identify optimal locations (origin cities, destination airports, etc.) for dengue surveillance. The model can be extended to other geographical regions and vector-borne diseases, as well as other network-based processes.