Risk Maps for Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome in Southwestern United States

The emergence of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) associated with
Peromyscus mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) (2), and transmission to
humans occurred through contact with secretions and excretions of ) in
the U.S. Southwest in 1993 was thought to be due to weather conditions
in 1991-92 that favored local increases in rodent populations. To
examine this hypothesis Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite imagery
collected the year preceding the HPS outbreak, as well as elevation
data were used in a case control study. Twenty-eight HPS case sites
and 170 randomly selected rural control sites were used. There was a
highly significant association between brightness values in three of
the TM bands (1, 5, and 7) as well as elevation, and the probability
of HPS risk the following year. A logistic regression function was
derived which when applied to the TM images, predicted areas at risk
of HPS. The analysis was repeated for years: 1993, 1995, 1997, and
1998.

For more information, see:
"http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/Hanta/"