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Abstract #160370

Jennifer Kmet, MPH, Preventive Medicine, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 600 Jefferson Ave, 3rd Floor, Memphis, TN 38105, 614-804-2790, kmet.5@osu.edu, J. Mac Crawford, RN, PhD, College of Public Health, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, The Ohio State University, A332A Starling Loving Hall, 320 West 10th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, Lei Shen, PhD, Program Phase Statistics, Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, IN 46285, and Esra Ozdenerol-Garner, PhD, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis, 236 Johnson Hall, 488 Patterson Street, Memphis, TN 38152.

Since its appearance in the United States in 1999 there have been 19,706 cases of West Nile Virus (WNV) which have resulted in 845 deaths according to reports by the CDC through the year 2005. Because of its potential to cause devastating illness and the lack of a specific treatment, further studies are warranted to better inform efforts targeted at prevention and control. In the state of Tennessee, over half of the cases of WNV have occurred in Shelby County. This study uses geographic information systems and statistical methods to investigate whether or not various environmental and socioeconomic factors are important predictors of human cases of WNV disease in Shelby County, Tennessee. Information about the geographic location of cases in Shelby County from the years 2002 through 2004, as well as the location of mosquito traps and the results of testing for infected mosquitoes were obtained from the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department. Socioeconomic and environmental factors including age of the population, race, income, age of housing, presence of vacant housing, and presence of water were obtained from the United States 2000 Census. Preliminary results show that, of the variables considered, the age of housing has the strongest association with the occurrence of WNV cases in Shelby County. Age of the population and the presence of vacant housing also appear to be important factors. This presentation will discuss the findings from this study and implications for targeted prevention and control efforts.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify social and environmental factors which may be associated with the occurrence of human West Nile Virus cases.
• Recognize the benefits of using GIS and statistical analysis to inform prevention and control activities.

Keywords: West Nile Encephalitis, Infectious Diseases

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.