Identification of parasite-host habitats in Anxiang county, Hunan Province, China based on multi-temporal China-Brazil earth resources satellite (CBERS) images.
other · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 23922712.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0069447 and PMC identifier 3726693.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Remote sensing is a promising technique for monitoring the distribution and dynamics of various vector-borne diseases. In this study, we used the multi-temporal CBERS images, obtained free of charge, to predict the habitats of the snail Oncomelania hupensis, the sole intermediate host of schistosomiasis japonica, a snail-borne parasitic disease of considerable public health in China. Areas of suitable snail habitats were identified based on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the normalized difference water index (NDWI), and the predictive model was tested against sites (snails present or absent) that were surveyed directly for O. hupensis. The model performed well (sensitivity and specificity were 63.64% and 78.09%, respectively), and with further development, we may provide an accurate, inexpensive tool for the broad-scale monitoring and control of schistosomiasis, and other similar vector-borne diseases.
Medical subject headings
- Ecosystem
- Host-Parasite Interactions
- Parasites
- Satellite Communications