AN OVERVIEW OF REMOTE-SENSING AND GIS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF MOSQUITO VECTOR HABITATS AND RISK ASSESSMENT

This paper provides a brief nontechnical overview of the use of remote sensing to achieve multiple objectives, focusing on mosquito manageme nt. It also shows how Geographic Information Systems, combined with re mote sensing analysis, have the potential to assist in minimizing dise ase risk. Examples are used from subtropical Queensland, Australia, wh ere the salt marsh mosquito, Aedes vigilax, and the freshwater species , Culex annulirostris, are vectors of human arbovirus diseases such as Ross River and Barmah Forest virus disease. Culex annulirostris is al so implicated in the transmission of Japanese Encephalitis. Mapping th e breeding habitats of the species facilitates assessment of the risk of contracting the diseases and also assists in control of the vectors . First, it considers a simple risk model that is applied to data for the city of Brisbane in southeast Queensland. This is then linked to c omputer-aided analysis of remotely sensed data to map potential epheme ral freshwater breeding sites of Cx. annulirostris. This has the poten tial to guide control at critical times, for example after heavy summe r rainfall or when there is an outbreak of Ross River virus disease. S econd, the use of color infrared aerial photography is used to identif y the specific parts of the salt marsh in which larvae and eggs of Ae. vigilax are found. Finally. we explore novel ways to map the detailed pattern of water under mangrove forest canopy to identify where mosqu itoes are breeding and as an aid to planning modification. For each we discuss the limitations and advantages and the possibilities for comb ining methods and/or using a single method for multiple objectives.