Write your abstract here.November 07, 2007
NASA Remote Sensing Technology Predicts & Prevent Future Global Pandemics
With the help of 14 orbiting satellites currently in orbit and the
National Aeronautics and Space
scientists have been able to observe
daily the Earth’s environment to help predict and prevent
infectious disease outbreaks around the world, including Ebola, West Nile virus
and Rift Valley Fever. The ability of infectious diseases to thrive
depends on changes in the Earth’s environment such as the climate,
precipitation and vegetation of an area.
According to NASA:
Remote sensing technology not only helps monitor infectious
disease outbreaks in highly affected areas, but also provides
information about possible plague-carrying vectors -- such as insects
or rodents -- globally and within the U.S. The Four Corners region,
which includes Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, is a highly
susceptible area for plague and Hanta virus outbreaks, and by
understanding the mixture of vegetation, rainfall and slope of the
area, scientists can predict the food supply of disease transmitting
vectors within the region and the threat they cause to humans. Because
plague is also considered a bioterrorism agent, NASA surveillance
systems enable scientists to decipher if an outbreak was caused by
natural circumstances or was an act of bioterrorism.
A particular infectious disease being targeted by NASA is malaria,
which affects 300-500 million persons worldwide, leaving 40 percent of
the world at risk of infection. The Malaria Modeling and Surveillance
Project utilizing NASA satellite technology is currently in use by the
Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences in Thailand and the
U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit located in Indonesia.
NASA satellite remote sensing technology has been an important
tool in the last few years to not only provide scientists with the data
needed to respond to epidemic threats quickly, but to also help predict
the future of infectious diseases in areas where diseases were never a
main concern,” says Mr. Haynes. “Changing environments due to global
warming have the ability to change environmental habitats so
drastically that diseases such as malaria may become common in areas
that have never been previously at-risk.
Posted by Jason McManus. Adapted from research presented at the
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Meeting in
Philadelphia.
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