The map shows reported disease cases from mosquitoes in each U.S. state and territory from 2004 to 2016. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recent outbreaks of Zika, chikungunya, and West Nile viruses point to the need for better tools to reduce the growing threat of these diseases in the United States. Source: CDC
From August 27-28, researchers supported by the CPO International Research and Applications Project (IRAP) convened a Health and Climate Workshop and Training. The workshop focused on a new next-generation monitoring and forecasting system called “AeDES” that tracks places and times in the United States and neighboring regions when climate factors might enhance environmental suitability for transmission of diseases like Zika, dengue fever, and chikungunya spread by species of Aedes mosquitoes. It is featured as part of the Maproom hosted by Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) and created through a partnership among IRI, the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and other institutions.
The workshop aimed to identify:
- strategies for embedding the AeDES Maproom into existing risk management frameworks;
- methods for translating output from the Maproom to decision makers; and
- improving the tool to increase utility by decision makers.
The AeDES Maproom offers interactive maps showing environmental suitability for the conterminous United States, Mexico, Central America, northern South America and the Caribbean, for the 1948 to present, at a monthly timescale. It also includes additional information to provide context to the user: infant mortality, population density, and typical seasonality of key climate variables. Workshop participants included scientists from research organizations, as well as members of the public health community in the Americas. A similar engagement was held earlier this year at the annual meeting of the Northeast Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (NEVBD), a partner in the IRAP project.
Learn more about the AeDES monitoring system »
