This Cool Geo-Pic comes again from NASA's Earth Observatory. Its a good example of the sample belief applied by Dr. Snow in solving the source of a cholera outbreak of London in 1854. The basic premise is, "if you can map the disease - both in source & extent, you can contain it & perhaps avoid its consequence in the future".
Quick "Cut & Paste" Highlights:
" ...Most of the time, a case of Rift Valley fever is a minor thing. For four to seven days, the afflicted person runs a fever with aching muscles, joints, and head. But in some cases, a very small percentage of cases, the symptoms are more serious .... These images illustrate how [native Kenyan and NASA-funded scientist Assaf Anyamba and his colleagues at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the World Health Organization, the United States Army Medical Research Unit-Kenya, and the United States Department of Agriculture] used satellite data to predict the outbreak of Rift Valley fever.
The top image shows vegetation growth in December 2006 compared to average growth in previous Decembers from 1998 through 2006 as seen by France’s SPOT satellite. Areas where plants were growing far more than average are dark green, while less-than-average growth is represented in brown. This information served as a proxy for the conditions that accompany an outbreak of Rift Valley fever...."
Full Article - Click Here
References / Credits:
The top image shows vegetation growth in December 2006 compared to average growth in previous Decembers from 1998 through 2006 as seen by France’s SPOT satellite. Areas where plants were growing far more than average are dark green, while less-than-average growth is represented in brown. This information served as a proxy for the conditions that accompany an outbreak of Rift Valley fever...."
Full Article - Click Here
References / Credits:
Anyamba, A., Chretien, J.P., Small, J., Tucker, C., Formenty, P., Richardson, J., Britch, S., Schnabel, D., Erickson, R., Linthicum. K. (2009, January 20). Prediction of a Rift Valley Fever outbreak. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106 (3), 955-959.
Hansen, K. (2009, February 13). NASA Study Predicted Outbreak of Deadly Virus. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Accessed February 13, 2009.
World Health Organization. (2009). Rift Valley Fever. Accessed February 13, 2009.
NASA images created by Jesse Allen, using provided by the United State Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service and processed by Jennifer Small and Assaf Anyamba,
NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
Instrument: SPOT
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