Spatial Dimensions of Public Health: Identifying and Monitoring Vector-Borne Diseases and Their Geographic Diffusion

Dear Colleagues,

Vector-borne animal and vegetal infectious diseases, such as malaria and plant rust, globally create a significant public health burden. The former restrict, for example, the economic development, whereas the latter decrease, for example, agricultural productivity. Frequently, the vectors of human diseases are various species of mosquitoes. Often, plant disease pathogen vectors are organisms such as assorted fungi, viruses, and bacteria. Effective and efficient interventions to control the geographic spread of these diseases require the accurate and precise identification of the vectors’ habitats, including those, present world-wide, of certain species of mosquitoes of the Anopheles genus. What is known about containing such infectious diseases offers insights for devising interventions to control pests, such as southern army worms. Papers in this Special Issue will contribute to the body of knowledge concerning the use of geospatial instruments, datasets, and analytic techniques and methodologies for public health purposes and for designing intervention controls for vector-borne infectious diseases, as well as other phenomena having similar geographic dispersion mechanisms.

The impacts of vector-borne infectious diseases and their geographic diffusion depend not only on their obscure nurturing habitats, but also on our inability to accurately and precisely identify these habitats. Therefore, geospatial instruments, datasets, and analytic techniques and methodologies will be more valuable if customized for the purposes of public health, especially in terms of designing intervention controls for vector-borne infectious diseases. Success in these scientific endeavors should offer insights into the devising of interventions to control pests whose diffusion processes resemble those of vector-borne diseases.

This Special Issue welcomes studies and reviews about utilizing geospatial information science, including geographic information systems (GISs), global position systems (GPSs), geocoded data, satellite imagery, spatial statistics and econometrics, and GIScience concepts, with the goal of identifying vector-borne disease habitats. The papers can deal with the integration of georeferenced data with spatial diffusion models, the fusion of satellite and other aerially captured data (e.g., by drones), and the synergistic spatial and aspatial conceptualizations that address the identification of vector-borne infectious disease habitats. In addition, practical case studies about the use of geospatial information science for the prevention, protection, intervention, and control of the spread of vector-borne diseases are relevant to the issue’s goal and are welcome. Papers using GIScience to forecast vector-borne disease diffusion and formulate public health policies pertaining to vector-borne diseases are also within the scope of this Special Issue. Finally, papers that investigate the use of geospatial information science concepts and techniques to devise intervention strategies to control pests whose diffusion processes resemble those of vector-borne diseases are welcome as well.

This Special Issue will provide readers with up-to-date information about the interface between vector-borne infectious diseases and geospatial information science, with special reference to linking these two subject areas through habitat identification. One anticipated outcome is the improvement of early warning, prevention, and public health policies to cope with vector-borne infectious diseases.

Prof. Dr. Daniel A. Griffith
Dr. Benjamin G. Jacob
Prof. Dr. Robert J. Novak
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Geospatial information science
• Public health
• Vector borne disease habitats
• Satellite imagery
• Spatial statistics