Geographical information systems and remote sensing in veterinary disease mapping.

Abstract

Abstract Disease mapping and risk assessment are important tasks in the area of medical and veterinary epidemiology. The development of methods for mapping diseases has progressed considerably in recent years. Geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) represent new tools for the study of epidemiology, and their application to veterinary medicine, and in particular to parasitology, has become more and more advanced to study the spatial and temporal patterns of diseases. The present review highlights the usefulness of GIS and RS for: disease mapping, ecological analysis, and surveillance and monitoring of animal diseases.