title: Development of a web-based geographic information system for the epidemiological surveillance of bluetongue in the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean countries.
abstract: Bluetongue (BT) is an infectious, non-contagious, arthropod-borne disease transmitted by biting midges. When BT spread throughout the Balkans (affecting Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro), it caused serious concerns for veterinary authorities in all countries in the eastern Mediterranean. In 2003-2004 a web-based BT geographic information system network was developed and implemented to provide veterinary services with a tool to manage and analyse data on the disease and to exchange information. The system was centralised to ensure there was a common epidemiological surveillance strategy. Spatial and alphanumerical data on the disease were organised in a single relational geographic database. The system was equipped with a number of applications for the display of dynamic maps and data information via the web, with multi-user access for simultaneous queries from additional users.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise G. Caporale, Campo Boario, 64100 Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Savini
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ippoliti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Conte
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parisse
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dall'Acqua
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Calistri