Looking for dangerous places: some aspects of medical geography and disease mapping

Medical geography investigates spatial patterns in the distribution of disease occurrence. The origins of the field can be traced to antiquity, but mapping of disease did not appear until the mid-19th century. Maps can reveal distinctive spatial patterns of certain diseases and may suggest environmental correlates. The geographical distribution of many infectious diseases, such as malaria, with well-known ecology are usually easily understood. The etiology of certain chronic non-infectious diseases which exhibit noticeable geographic variation is often complex. A map of cerebrovascular disease mortality rates in Appalachia is used as an example of an application of modern medical geography.