Changes in climate, ecological conditions, global travel and trade, are drivers in the evolution of geographical and seasonal distribution of vectors and animal populations, thus influencing the transmission cycle of pathogens and the emergence of vector-borne/animal diseases. There are numerous ongoing ...
Changes in climate, ecological conditions, global travel and trade, are drivers in the evolution of geographical and seasonal distribution of vectors and animal populations, thus influencing the transmission cycle of pathogens and the emergence of vector-borne/animal diseases. There are numerous ongoing efforts aimed at detecting drivers of these vector-borne/animal diseases and their contribution to the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. The introduction of a vector-borne disease in a new area is often linked to host/vector movements or other associated direct/indirect transmission pathways. Once a disease is introduced in a new area with susceptible hosts, its establishment and spread are mainly constrained by the spatial and temporal distribution of the competent vector presence and abundance, under a permissive climate. The environment, in its broad sense, is the frame in which vectors proliferate, hosts live and interactions among them are facilitated or hampered. The comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of climate and environmental elements, that constitute drivers of the emergence and spread of new and re-emergent infectious diseases, requires the capacity to collect disparate and complex spatio-temporal data, combined with large amounts of bio-surveillance data and the methods to analyze these big data.
The current availability of Satellite Earth Observation (SEO) data, with improved frequency, coverage and public access, allows multidimensional analysis of SEO-based drivers. In addition, the continuous development of innovative data analytics can be of great help to identify patterns in big datasets and to make highly accurate disease risk predictions. Together, they can provide a better understanding of current disease distributions and can contribute to the development of early warning systems that can aid disease control and prevention efforts.
This Research Topic aims contribute to the latest scientific advances on the use of Earth Observations for animal health and vector-borne diseases at multi scales, identify the road map to move from big data towards great value for Public and Animal Health, protecting animal and human health from infectious diseases, with particular attention to those transmitted by vectors.
We are interested in the following types of manuscripts: Original Research, Community Case Studies, Brief Research Reports, General Commentary.
Keywords:
Satellite Earth Observation, remote sensing, vector-borne disease, animal disease, environmental drivers, big data, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence
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All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.