Schistosomiasis risk estimation in Minas Gerais State, Brazil, using environmental data and GIS techniques

The influence of climate and environmental variables to the distribution of schistosomiasis has been assessed in several previous studies. Also Geographical Information System (GIS), is a tool that has been recently tested for better understanding the spatial disease distribution. The objective of this paper is to further develop the GIS technology for modeling and control of schistosomiasis using meteorological and social variables and introducing new potential environmental-related variables, particularly those produced by recently launched orbital sensors like the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Three different scenarios have been analyzed, and despite of not quite large determination factor, the standard deviation of risk estimates was considered adequate for public health needs. The main variables selected as important for modeling purposes was topographic elevation, summer minimum temperature, the NDVI vegetation index, and the social index HDI91.