title: Mapping infectious disease landscapes: unmanned aerial vehicles and epidemiology.
abstract: The potential applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, have generated intense interest across many fields. UAVs offer the potential to collect detailed spatial information in real time at relatively low cost and are being used increasingly in conservation and ecological research. Within infectious disease epidemiology and public health research, UAVs can provide spatially and temporally accurate data critical to understanding the linkages between disease transmission and environmental factors. Using UAVs avoids many of the limitations associated with satellite data (e.g., long repeat times, cloud contamination, low spatial resolution). However, the practicalities of using UAVs for field research limit their use to specific applications and settings. UAVs fill a niche but do not replace existing remote-sensing methods.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK. Electronic address: Kimberly.Fornace@lshtm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Kimberly M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Fornace
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Chris J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Drakeley
authors.affiliation: Infectious Diseases Society Sabah, Menzies School of Health Research Clinical Research Unit, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; Infectious Diseases Unit, Clinical Research Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; Sabah Department of Health, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: William
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Department of Health, Filinvest, Alabang, Muntinlupa City, Philippines.
authors.forename: Fe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Espino
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cox
mesh_terms: D000401:Aircraft / Q000592:standards*; D000818:Animals; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology / Q000592:standards; D012307:Risk Factors; D018531:Spacecraft / Q000592:standards
keywords: Plasmodium knowlesi; drone; geographic information system; malaria; spatial epidemiology; unmanned aerial vehicle