Spatial–Temporal Epidemiology Study of Chikungunya Disease in Bolivia

Geospatial technology has become a great tool for epidemiology study because, with this technological advance,we can determine the environment in which transmission occurs, the distribution of the disease and its evolution over time. One of the important diseases related to public health in Bolivia is the chikungunya disease, also known as chikungunya fever. Therefore, the present research aims to analyze an area of Bolivia with a high number of cases of chikungunya based on remote sensing and GIS. Environmental parameters extracted from Landsat 8 satellite image, together with meteorological data extracted from the National Service of Meteorology in Bolivia, and the epidemiological information of chikungunya cases extracted from the Ministry of Health were the data sources included in this study. A principal component analysis of all the parameters obtained will be developed to build the relationship between the environmental parameters and chikungunya outbreaks in certain months of the year. We construct a GIS platform to allow the end user visualize and interact with the different layers. This study will allow us to have a more integrated understanding of this disease, understand the environment in which the transmission happens, identify in which months higher outbreaks occur and the climatic conditions under which it occurs. This will give us new potential to prevent and control this emerging disease in Bolivia.