Translating Research into Practice: Assessing the Use of Geospatial Modeling to Improve West Nile Virus Surveillance and Mitigation

West Nile Virus (WNV) is the leading cause of domestically acquired arboviral disease for Los Angeles County and the greater Southern California region. A growing body of research supports the use of geospatial modeling for improved WNV surveillance and mitigation, but has yet to be incorporated by local health departments and vector-control agencies. Due to the fragmented nature of vector-control both nationally and in Southern California, dissemination of best practices for applying geospatial modeling to improve surveillance and mitigation of WNV has been limited. We conducted a critical review of the literature on geospatial modeling of WNV to determine how such modeling could potentially be used to improve WNV surveillance and mitigation.  Next, we interviewed public health and vector-control practitioners in states with the highest WNV prevalence, to identify whether they use geospatial modeling to inform their work, what barriers exist to implementation, and best practices. We found that although most public health departments and vector-control agencies are not currently using geospatial modeling to inform their surveillance and mitigation practices, that geospatial modeling could be helpful for many of the regions hardest hit by WNV.  The best practices identified from agencies that currently use geospatial modeling as part of the WNV control strategy provide valuable lessons for how this important tool could be more broadly adopted.