The usage of geographic information systems for operational epidemiological analysis of influenza incidence in the territory of Rostov-on-Don including mass events

Abstract

Objective: the assessment of spatial distribution of influenza in the metropolis and creation of the geographic information system (hereinafter – GIS) « Influenza: Rostov-on-Don «, containing data on places of case registration.Materials and methods: statistical data on influenza cases based on primary and final reports, PCR studies were used. Geocoding of addresses was performed using the servers Nominatum and the Satellite. For development of GIS we used free software QGIS version 3.2.2. As the cartographic basis OpenStreetMap community maps were used.Results: construction of variograms («heat maps») revealed the formation of several risk areas («epidemiological spots»), the boundaries of which do not coincide with the boundaries of the administrative districts of the city.Conclusions: the analysis showed that distribution of each of the subtypes of influenza A virus in the territory of Rostov-on-Don in the 2018-2019 season has specific features. We showed that in conditions of the megalopolis the spatial analysis which was carried out without taking into account the administrative boundaries provided more accurate results in comparison with traditional zoning.

Keywords

• geoinformation systems
• influenza
• subtypes
• epidemiological spot