Rutgers researcher co-creates tool to help identify outbreaks and prioritize virus control efforts.
As many as one in five dengue fever deaths in the Americas occur in Mexico, and the rate of the disease’s severity has been increasing for decades, according to the World Health Organization. Now, a Rutgers researcher has generated data that could help curb the mosquito-borne illness in the country.
Ubydul Haque, an assistant professor of global health at the Rutgers Global Health Institute, has analyzed data from Mexico’s Ministry of Health to identify dengue fever hotspots. Working with epidemiologists at the University of North Texas and Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, the team calculated environmental and socioeconomic risk factors and mapped areas where severe outbreaks occur.
The findings are published in the journal Ecological Informatics.
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