Original Articles
Vol. 11 No. s1 (2016): HEALTHY FUTURES
https://doi.org/10.4081/gh.2016.394

A dynamic, climate-driven model of Rift Valley fever

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Received: 24 June 2015
Accepted: 11 November 2015
Published: 31 March 2016
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Rift Valley fever, Epidemiology, Climate, Mathematical modelling, Vector-borne diseases

Authors

Joseph Leedale
j.leedale@liverpool.ac.uk
School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Anne E. Jones
Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Cyril Caminade
Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool; National Institute for Health Research, Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Andrew P. Morse
School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool; National Institute for Health Research, Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Outbreaks of Rift Valley fever (RVF) in eastern Africa have previously occurred following specific rainfall dynamics and flooding events that appear to support the emergence of large numbers of mosquito vectors. As such, transmission of the virus is considered to be sensitive to environmental conditions and therefore changes in climate can impact the spatiotemporal dynamics of epizootic vulnerability. Epidemiological information describing the methods and parameters of RVF transmission and its dependence on climatic factors are used to develop a new spatio-temporal mathematical model that simulates these dynamics and can predict the impact of changes in climate. The Liverpool RVF (LRVF) model is a new dynamic, process-based model driven by climate data that provides a predictive output of geographical changes in RVF outbreak susceptibility as a result of the climate and local livestock immunity. This description of the multi-disciplinary process of model development is accessible to mathematicians, epidemiological modellers and climate scientists, uniting dynamic mathematical modelling, empirical parameterisation and state-of-the-art climate information.

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A dynamic, climate-driven model of Rift Valley fever. (2016). Geospatial Health, 11(s1). https://doi.org/10.4081/gh.2016.394

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