Citation
Reiner, Robert C., Jr.; King, Aaron A.; Emch, Michael E.; Yunus, Mohammad; Faruque, Abu Syed Golam; & Pascual, Mercedes (2012). Highly Localized Sensitivity to Climate Forcing Drives Endemic Cholera in a Megacity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(6), 2033-2036. PMCID: PMC3277579Abstract
The population dynamics of endemic cholera in urban environments--in particular interannual variation in the size and distribution of seasonal outbreaks--remain poorly understood and highly unpredictable. In part, this situation is due to the considerable demographic, socioeconomic, and environmental heterogeneity of large and growing urban centers. Despite this heterogeneity, the influence of climate variability on the population dynamics of infectious diseases is considered a large-scale, regional, phenomenon, and as such has been previously addressed for cholera only with temporal models that do not incorporate spatial structure. Here we show that a probabilistic spatial model can explain cholera dynamics in the megacity of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and afford a basis for cholera forecasts at lead times of 11 mo. Critically, we find that the action of climate variability (El Nino southern oscillation and flooding) is quite localized: There is a climate-sensitive urban core that acts to propagate risk to the rest of the city. The modeling framework presented here should be applicable to cholera in other cities, as well as to other infectious diseases in urban settings and other biological systems with spatiotemporal interactions.URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1108438109Reference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2012Journal Title
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaAuthor(s)
Reiner, Robert C., Jr.King, Aaron A.
Emch, Michael E.
Yunus, Mohammad
Faruque, Abu Syed Golam
Pascual, Mercedes