San Bernadino Public Health knows that monitoring the mosquito population benefits community health directly. This is why the public health team is tracking mosquitos breeding areas and leveraging GIS technology to better coordinate mosquito control efforts in order to prevent the spread of disease.
Healthcare IT Today spoke with Serene Ong – Geographic Information Systems Analyst, Andrew Mackey – Statistical Analyst, and Anthony Arce – Research Analyst at San Bernardino County Department of Public Health (SBCDPH) to find out more.
Mosquito Surveillance
Mosquito Surveillance is used to monitor mosquito populations – their distribution and dynamics. That data can then be used to predict and plot potential vectors of human disease.
There are thousands of species of mosquitos and only a few of them carry bacteria or viruses that cause disease. However, the diseases they carry can be quite harmful to people. In recent years the Zika and West Nile viruses have affected many people in North America. Preventing the spread of these viruses means controlling the mosquito population.
San Bernardino County is leveraging GIS technology to aid in its mosquito control program.
“We will be mapping out mosquito breeding areas and their travel distance,” explained Mackey. “That data and map will help with inter-agency collaboration between Environmental Health Services, Preparedness and Response, Animal Care, and Communicable Diseases.”
Seeing mosquito data on a map makes it easer to determine where to set traps and which types of traps to set; correlating trap results with locations on a map; identifying potential treatment zones that are near schools, elder care facilities, etc.
Esri, makers of ArcGIS, which is used by San Bernardino County, published an excellent article about the use of GIS for mosquito surveillance.
Environmental Surveillance and Public Health
Mosquito surveillance is just one aspect of San Bernardino County’s overall environmental surveillance efforts. The county already monitors wastewater for communicable diseases and COVID-19. They plan to begin monitoring wastewater for opioids in order to see which communities are being impacted the most by the epidemic. This would be very similar to what the City of Tempe, Arizona did.
The data collected is not just for internal consumption. The county makes as much data publicly available as possible.
“We really want to engage with the public and all of our constituents,” said Arce. “COVID-19 data was very popular, and we now want to extend that same openness to other health outcomes and other programs.”
“The data that we collect is meant to help people,” stated Ong. “We look at that data and ask, ‘how can we help people in their daily lives?’”
Watch this short interview with Serene Ong, Anthony Arce, and Andrew Mackey to learn more about how San Bernardino County’s environmental surveillance efforts are enhancing their public health efforts.
Learn more about San Bernardino County at: https://main.sbcounty.gov/
Learn more about Esri at: https://www.esri.com/en-us/industries/health/overview
Learn more about GIS for Health at: https://www.healthcareittoday.com/gis-for-health/
Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.
And for an exclusive look at our top stories, subscribe to our newsletter.
Tell us what you think. Contact us here or on Twitter at @hcitoday. And if you’re interested in advertising with us, check out our various advertising packages and request our Media Kit.
Esri is a supporter of Healthcare Scene
