Satellite remote sensing and geographical information systems for risk modelling of alveolar echinococcosis

Satellite remote sensing has now become a well-established tool for land cover and ecological mapping in epidemiological studies that require spatial information on the size, location and temporal dynamics of host habitats. Satellite remote sensing provides regular and repeatable images of most of the Earth's surface at a range of spatial and temporal resolutions. In addition, a global archive of image data at high spatial resolution is available from 1972 providing a permanent record of landscape change, These spatial data are increasingly managed with geographic information systems (GIS) that provide the key tools for the analysis of spatial patterns and, more recently, to build predictive models of disease transmission. This chapter reviews the key attributes of satellite remote sensing and GIS in the context of parasitology. A case study is used to illustrate the application of remote sensing and GIS to explore spatial relationships between landscape composition and the transmission of Echinococcus multilocularis in a highly endemic area in central China.