Abstract
Infectious intestinal disease (IID) surveillance data are an under-utilised information source on illness geography. This paper uses a case study of cryptosporidiosis in England and Wales to demonstrate how these data can be converted into area-based rates and the factors underlying illness geography investigated. Ascertainment bias is common in surveillance datasets, and we develop techniques to investigate and control this. Rural areas, locations with many livestock and localities with poor water treatment had elevated levels of cryptosporidiosis. These findings accord with previous research validating the techniques developed. Their use in future studies investigating IID geography is therefore recommended.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 333-339 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Health and Place |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2009 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was funded by the Wellcome Trust. We would also like to acknowledge Iain Gillespie for the provision of data to validate the formation of laboratory service areas. Also we would like to acknowledge the work of Steve Anthony, Hester Lyons and Chris Proctor at ADAS Consulting for developing the animal manure distribution database. Finally, we would like to thank two anonymous referees for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
Keywords
- Crypsorpodisiodis
- Environment
- GIS
- Surveillance data
- Water supply