Landscape epidemiology draws some of its roots from the field of

landscape ecology Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems. This is done within a variety of landscape scales, development spatial patterns, and organizatio ...

. Just as the discipline of

is concerned with analyzing both patterns and processes in ecosystems across time and space, landscape epidemiology can be used to analyze both risk patterns and environmental risk factors. This field emerges from the theory that most vectors, hosts, and pathogens are commonly tied to the landscape as environmental determinants control their distribution and abundance. In 1966, Evgeniy Pavlovsky introduced the concept of natural nidality or focality, defined by the idea that microscale disease foci are determined by the entire ecosystem. With the recent availability of new computing technologies such as geographic information systems,

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

, statistical methods including spatial statistics and theories of

, the concept of landscape epidemiology has been applied analytically to a variety of disease systems, including

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

hantavirus ''Orthohantavirus'' is a genus of viruses that includes all hantaviruses (family ''Hantaviridae'') that cause disease in humans. Orthohantaviruses, hereafter referred to as hantaviruses, are naturally found primarily in rodents. In general, each ...

Lyme disease Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a tick-borne disease caused by species of ''Borrelia'' bacteria, Disease vector, transmitted by blood-feeding ticks in the genus ''Ixodes''. It is the most common disease spread by ticks in th ...

and Chagas' disease.Brownstein, J.S.; Rosen, H.; Purdy, D.; Miller, J.; Merlino, M.; Mostashari, F.; Fish, D. "Spatial Analysis of West Nile Virus: Rapid Risk Assessment of an Introduced Vector-Borne Zoonosis." ''Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases.'' 2(3):157-164.

References

{{modelling ecosystems, expanded=other Epidemiology Landscape ecology Biogeography Environmental health Veterinary medicine

See also

References