Using Google Dengue Trends to Estimate Climate Effects in Mexico

Authors

  • Rebecca T. Gluskin Boston Children's Hospital; Harvard Medical School
  • Mauricio Santillana Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
  • John S. Brownstein Boston Children's Hospital; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v5i1.4584

Abstract

The incidence of dengue fever (DF) has increased 30 fold between 1960 and 2011. The literature suggests that temperature plays a major role in the life cycle of the mosquito vector and in turn, the timing of DF outbreaks. We use real-time data from GDT and real-time temperature estimates from NASA Earth observing systems to examine the relationship between dengue and climate in 17 Mexican states from 2003-2011. For the majority of states, we predict that a warming climate will increase the number of days the minimum temperature is within the risk range for dengue.

Author Biography

Rebecca T. Gluskin, Boston Children's Hospital; Harvard Medical School

Rebecca Gluskin is a CDC/CSTE Applied Public Health Informatics Fellow at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and an Epidemiologist for Healthmap.org at Boston Children's Hospital. Rebecca received a PhD in epidemiology and an MSc in toxicology from New York University. She has worked on federal policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists and is current Chair of Membership for the APHA Environment Section.

Downloads

Published

2013-03-24

How to Cite

Gluskin, R. T., Santillana, M., & Brownstein, J. S. (2013). Using Google Dengue Trends to Estimate Climate Effects in Mexico. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v5i1.4584

Issue

Section

Oral Presentations: Weather, Environmental, and Vector-borne