Characteristics of Areas Where Positive Human Cases of West Nile Virus Have Been Reported

Principal Investigator:

Lashale Pugh

West Nile virus is a disease spread primarily by mosquitoes. Research indicates that it was first isolated from a febrile patient in Uganda in 1939. Endemic to Asia, Africa and parts of Europe, the first human cases of the West Nile Virus (WNV) reported in the US occurred in New York in 1999. The rapid spread of this virus throughout the US is cause for concern for public health. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported the following human cases: in 1999, 19 cases in 3 states; in 2002, 4,156 cases in 44 states and the District of Columbia; in 2003, 9,122 cases in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Geographers are interested in the nature and spread of diseases, but medical geographers are particularly concerned with the specific medical and spatial interactions between and among the physical world and cultural dimensions. Within this broad disciplinary context, the research will help to identify patterns of diffusion in an effort to better understand the factors associated with incidence of infection. WNV provides medical geographers the opportunity to study an emerging infectious disease and identify factors which promote its spread. Factor analysis and other multivariate techniques will be used to analyze the characteristics of areas where WNV is most prevalent and the socio-economic makeup of populations where the disease is higher. The research will shed light on one of the most menacing, but elusive diseases in the country. In addition, it will help to identify selected characteristics of areas where human infections are higher in order to direct more resources toward eradicating this disease. Differences between and among urban, non-urban, and rural areas will be assessed to help focus limited resources.