Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-15T14:10:04.977Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the use of contour maps in the analysis of spread of communicable disease*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

Michael Splaine ,
Alan P. Lintott  and
Juan J. Angulo
Michael Splaine
Affiliation:
Zambia Operational Research Group, P.O. Box 172, Kitwe, Zambia
Alan P. Lintott
Affiliation:
Zambia Operational Research Group, P.O. Box 172, Kitwe, Zambia
Juan J. Angulo
Affiliation:
Computer Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Ga., 30322, USA
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The co-ordinates of the dwellings where cases of variola minor (alastrim) occurred during a small epidemic were used in a worked example of contour mapping of disease spread. The contoured variable was the date of onset, relative to an arbitrary base date, of the case introducing the disease into each of twenty-two households. Three contour maps prepared with slightly different computer programmes or dates exhibited similar concentric loops whose centres were close to the first infected household. The average rate of spread of the disease was estimated by regression of the number of days to onset of the first case in the household on the average distance from an arbitrary origin to the relevant contour line. The calculated average rate of spread was 1.22 metres per day. An additional map was contoured using the cumulative number of cases as the contoured variable, relative to the onset of the example epidemic.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 73 , Issue 1 , August 1974 , pp. 15 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

References

REFERENCES

Adams, R. P. (1970). Contour mapping and differential systematics of geographic variation. Systematic Zoology 19, 385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angulo, J. J., Rodrigues-da-Silva, G. & Rabello, S. I. (1964). Variola minor in a primary school. Public Health Reports, Washington 79, 355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angulo, J. J., Rodrigues-da-Silva, G. & Rabello, S. I. (1967). Spread of variola minor in households. American Journal of Epidemiology 86, 479.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Angulo, J. J., Rodrigues-da-Silva, G. & Rabello, S. I. (1968). Sociologic factors in the spread of variola minor in a semi-rural school district. Journal of Hygiene 66, 7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopps, H. C. (1969). Computer-produced distribution maps of disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 161, 779.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kiester, A. R. (1971). Species density of North American amphibians and reptiles. Systematic Zoology 20, 127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyers, J. (1949). Study of the geographical and time progression of a measles epidemic in the Mott Haven Health Center District, New York City. American Journal of Public Health 39, 1446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodrigues-da-Silva, G., Rabello, S. I. & Angulo, J. J. (1963). Epidemic of variola minor in a suburb of São Paulo. Public Health Reports, Washington 78, 165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Splaine, M., Lintott, A. P. & Barclay, G. P. T. (1970). Pictorial representation of the distribution of the sickle-cell trait by contours drawn by a computer-controlled X–Y plotter. Annals of Human Genetics 34, 51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stocks, P. (1930). The mechanism of a measles epidemic. Lancet i, 796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar