IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pntd00/0009535.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Arboviral diseases and poverty in Alabama, 2007–2017

Author

Listed:
  • Donal Bisanzio
  • Elisa Martello
  • Katherine Izenour
  • Kelly Stevens
  • Ramandeep Kaur
  • Benjamin A McKenzie
  • Moritz Kraemer
  • Richard Reithinger
  • Sarah Zohdy

Abstract

Mosquito-borne viruses cause diseases of great public health concern. Arboviral disease case distributions have complex relationships with socioeconomic and environmental factors. We combined information about socio-economic (population, and poverty rate) and environmental (precipitation, and land use) characteristics with reported human cases of arboviral disease in the counties of Alabama, USA, from 2007–2017. We used county level data on West Nile virus (WNV), dengue virus (DENV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), Zika virus (ZIKV), California serogroup virus, Eastern equine encephalitis virus, and Saint Louis encephalitis virus to provide a detailed description of their spatio-temporal pattern. We found a significant spatial convergence between incidence of WNV and poverty rate clustered in the southern part of Alabama. DENV, CHIKV and ZIKV cases showed a different spatial pattern, being mostly located in the northern part, in areas of high socioeconomic status. The results of our study establish that poverty-driven inequities in arboviral risk exist in the southern USA, and should be taken into account when planning prevention and intervention strategies.Author summary: Mosquito-borne arboviruses like West Nile virus (WNV), dengue virus (DENV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), Zika virus (ZIKV), California serogroup virus (CSV), Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEE), and Saint Louis encephalitis virus (SLE) are on the rise globally. Socioeconomic and environmental conditions have played a role in directing in this expansion by creating conditions ideal for mosquito vectors and transmission. In this study, we used 10 years (2007–2017) of county level human arboviral case data from the US state of Alabama to better understand the roles socioeconomics (poverty rate) and environmental (land use, precipitation, land cover) conditions may play in driving patterns of arboviral disease in the southern US. We found a significant association between poverty rate and incidence of WNV, an arbovirus primarily transmitted by Culex spp. mosquitoes, which are known for thriving in contaminated water sources and sewage overflow. Conversely, cases of DENV, CHIKV, and ZIKV, arboviruses primarily transmitted by Aedes spp. mosquitoes, were reported in areas of high socioeconomic status. These findings suggest differential distribution of arboviruses relevant to human health in Alabama, and that poverty in the southern US is a significant factor that should be considered when planning WNV prevention and intervention strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Donal Bisanzio & Elisa Martello & Katherine Izenour & Kelly Stevens & Ramandeep Kaur & Benjamin A McKenzie & Moritz Kraemer & Richard Reithinger & Sarah Zohdy, 2021. "Arboviral diseases and poverty in Alabama, 2007–2017," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-13, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pntd00:0009535
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009535
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0009535
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0009535&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009535?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthew H Bonds & Andrew P Dobson & Donald C Keenan, 2012. "Disease Ecology, Biodiversity, and the Latitudinal Gradient in Income," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(12), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Peter J Hotez & Sheila Jackson Lee, 2017. "US Gulf Coast states: The rise of neglected tropical diseases in "flyover nation"," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-4, November.
    3. Ryan J Harrigan & Henri A Thomassen & Wolfgang Buermann & Robert F Cummings & Matthew E Kahn & Thomas B Smith, 2010. "Economic Conditions Predict Prevalence of West Nile Virus," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(11), pages 1-8, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yigit Aydede & Jan Ditzen, 2022. "Identifying the regional drivers of influenza-like illness in Nova Scotia with dominance analysis," Papers 2212.06684, arXiv.org.
    2. Anand Sahasranaman & Henrik Jeldtoft Jensen, 2020. "Poverty in the time of epidemic: A modelling perspective," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, November.
    3. Peter J Hotez & Cory Booker, 2020. "STOP: Study, Treat, Observe, and Prevent Neglected Diseases of Poverty Act," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-3, February.
    4. Calistus N Ngonghala & Mateusz M Pluciński & Megan B Murray & Paul E Farmer & Christopher B Barrett & Donald C Keenan & Matthew H Bonds, 2014. "Poverty, Disease, and the Ecology of Complex Systems," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(4), pages 1-9, April.
    5. Arthur L Caplan & Peter J Hotez, 2018. "Science in the fight to uphold the rights of children," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-5, September.
    6. Shannon L. LaDeau & Paul T. Leisnham & Dawn Biehler & Danielle Bodner, 2013. "Higher Mosquito Production in Low-Income Neighborhoods of Baltimore and Washington, DC: Understanding Ecological Drivers and Mosquito-Borne Disease Risk in Temperate Cities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-22, April.
    7. Serge Morand & Sathaporn Jittapalapong & Yupin Suputtamongkol & Mohd Tajuddin Abdullah & Tan Boon Huan, 2014. "Infectious Diseases and Their Outbreaks in Asia-Pacific: Biodiversity and Its Regulation Loss Matter," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(2), pages 1-7, February.
    8. Bevis, Leah & Kim, Kichan & Guerena, David, 2023. "Soil zinc deficiency and child stunting: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    9. Gaddy, Hampton Gray, 2020. "Using local knowledge in emerging infectious disease research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    10. Jon Andrus & Maria Elena Bottazzi & Jennifer Chow & Karen A Goraleski & Susan P Fisher-Hoch & Jocelyn K Lambuth & Bruce Y Lee & Harold S Margolis & Joseph B McCormick & Peter Melby & Kristy O Murray &, 2013. "Ears of the Armadillo: Global Health Research and Neglected Diseases in Texas," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(6), pages 1-6, June.
    11. Alexander C Keyel & Oliver Elison Timm & P Bryon Backenson & Catharine Prussing & Sarah Quinones & Kathleen A McDonough & Mathias Vuille & Jan E Conn & Philip M Armstrong & Theodore G Andreadis & Laur, 2019. "Seasonal temperatures and hydrological conditions improve the prediction of West Nile virus infection rates in Culex mosquitoes and human case counts in New York and Connecticut," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-32, June.
    12. Charlene A. Dadzie, 2021. "Reimagining the Global South: Consumer welfare and public policy insights from the United States' Gulf Coast," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 1178-1199, September.
    13. Daniel Wiese & Ananias A Escalante & Heather Murphy & Kevin A Henry & Victor Hugo Gutierrez-Velez, 2019. "Integrating environmental and neighborhood factors in MaxEnt modeling to predict species distributions: A case study of Aedes albopictus in southeastern Pennsylvania," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-23, October.
    14. Yuri P Springer & Pieter T J Johnson, 2018. "Large-scale health disparities associated with Lyme disease and human monocytic ehrlichiosis in the United States, 2007–2013," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, September.
    15. Brian Becker & Paul T. Leisnham & Shannon L. LaDeau, 2014. "A Tale of Two City Blocks: Differences in Immature and Adult Mosquito Abundances between Socioeconomically Different Urban Blocks in Baltimore (Maryland, USA)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pntd00:0009535. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosntds (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.