Geospatial Forum Series
The Hot Zone: Predicting where and when Rift Valley Fever virus will reach the US
Drs. Sarah Konrad & Scott Miller
RENEWABLE RESOURCES, UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
Friday, October 7th, 2011
Ag C 316, 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Endemic to Africa, Rift Valley Fever periodically wreaks health and economic havoc in Africa by sickening domestic livestock, and less frequently, humans with potentially serious health effects including mortality. If the disease were to cross the Atlantic, it could severely affect livestock operations, with estimates in economic disruption ranging into the billions of dollars. Since mosquitoes are cold-blooded creatures they must be supplied with external heat to be able to transmit the virus. We have developed a spatially explicit modeling tool based on climate inputs that identifies whether an area is at risk or not for virus transmission. This presentation will discuss the GIS implementation of the modeling effort, which includes a real-time web service that uses continental-scale data from NOAA to produce real-time risk and forecast maps for the lower 48 US states for the benefit of control districts and health officers.
WyGISC Geospatial Forums are scheduled on Fridays from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm. Please feel free to bring your lunch to our forums.
For more information about these talks please visit our website.
Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center
Dept 4008, 1000 East University Avenue
Laramie, WY 82071
Room 301, Agriculture Building C
Phone: (307) 766-2532
Fax: (307) 766-2744
E-mail: wygisc@uwyo.edu
www.uwyo.edu/wygisc
© 2011 University of Wyoming
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