Abstract
In the veterinary epidemiology, the advantage of mapping the locations of farms and other facilities with animals is obvious. In an outbreak of a disease it could make the management of the situation easier, and it could also provide a tool to evaluate different strategies to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. This paper aims to describe and give an overview of the possibilities and potential uses of a Geographical Information System (GIS) in the field of surveillance and monitoring of animal diseases. The following areas in which GIS and special GIS-functions could be incorporated are presented: recording and reporting information, epidemic emergency, cluster analysis, modelling disease spread, and planning control strategies. Different sources of data; geographical data, farm locations and disease information, used in the development of the GIS at the National Veterinary Institute in Norway are thoroughly described in the paper. Further, it presents a few examples where the GIS has been applied to studies of epidemiology and surveillance of animal diseases in Norway, which shows the significant value of GIS in these areas. At the same time, the incorporation of GIS in this field shows the scarcity of the data available, which should encourage improvement in the data recording and the quality of the registries.
Highlights
A Geographical Information System (GIS) can be used as a tool for any discipline which handles with data that can be connected with geographical locations, such as countries, regions, communities, or co-ordinates
A GIS provides significant added value to current routine data that is usually taken into low consideration for either epidemiological or management purposes in veterinary medicine
A GIS considerably increases the efficacy of communication
Summary
A Geographical Information System (GIS) can be used as a tool for any discipline which handles with data that can be connected with geographical locations, such as countries, regions, communities, or co-ordinates. GIS is about to become tools for everyone. The need for using this system in the field of veterinary medicine has been emerging during the last decade. In 1991 Sanson et al described the systems and possible applications in the field of veterinary medicine. GIS has been included in decision support systems for control of infectious diseases in animals (Sanson 1994, Laube 1997). This paper will attempt to present the technology and possibilities of GIS with regard to surveillance and monitoring of animal diseases, and will discuss some applications of GIS in the field of veterinary epidemiology in Norway
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