title: Prediction of a Rift Valley fever outbreak.
abstract: El Niño/Southern Oscillation related climate anomalies were analyzed by using a combination of satellite measurements of elevated sea-surface temperatures and subsequent elevated rainfall and satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index data. A Rift Valley fever (RVF) risk mapping model using these climate data predicted areas where outbreaks of RVF in humans and animals were expected and occurred in the Horn of Africa from December 2006 to May 2007. The predictions were subsequently confirmed by entomological and epidemiological field investigations of virus activity in the areas identified as at risk. Accurate spatial and temporal predictions of disease activity, as it occurred first in southern Somalia and then through much of Kenya before affecting northern Tanzania, provided a 2 to 6 week period of warning for the Horn of Africa that facilitated disease outbreak response and mitigation activities. To our knowledge, this is the first prospective prediction of a RVF outbreak.
authors.affiliation: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center, Biospheric Sciences Branch, Code 614.4, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. asaph.anyamba-1@nasa.gov
authors.forename: Assaf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anyamba
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Chretien
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Small
authors.forename: Compton J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.forename: Pierre B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Formenty
authors.forename: Jason H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: Seth C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Britch
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Schnabel
authors.forename: Ralph L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Erickson
authors.forename: Kenneth J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Linthicum
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011891:Rain; D012295:Rift Valley Fever / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012998:Somalia / Q000453:epidemiology; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors