data utilization

Report III

High and Low Risk Cities

Now that we have identified and examined the outbreaks located across the different cities and the areas, we can now map out the areas that pose the highest exposure risk. The top five cities with the most exposure to the outbreaks were Jacksonville, Miami, Phoenix, Austin, and New Orleans. They set the highest range between 361 and 429 over three months. The top five cities with the least exposure to the outbreaks were Omaha, Virginia Beach, Colorado Springs, Philadelphia, and Indianapolis. These cities also set the lowest range between three and nine over three months.

High and Low Risk Areas

The high risk area of countries were during the month of April cases in which were, Los Angeles, Austin, New York, Fresno, Long beach, Mesa, Atlanta and New Orleans ranging from mid to high numbers. In contrast, the low risk countries in February cases were Chicago, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Columbus, Charlotte, Seattle, Boston, Nashville, Portland, Oklahoma, Las Vegas, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Colorado Springs, Virginia Beach, Raleigh, Omaha, Minneapolis, Wichita and Arlington in which the numbers were tremendously at its lowest.

Figure 1. High Risk Symbol Map

Symbols Map

From the symbol map plotted in figure 1, the prevalence of disease outbreaks is in April. In March, there are outbreaks but not as much as in April. Lastly, there are no outbreaks in the month of February in all the states in America. According to the CDC (2009), the factors that

favor the outbreak of the dengue disease are also favored by the weather conditions experienced in the months of autumn. Additionally, mosquitoes that cause malaria thrive better and multiply due to the presence of a lot of water which is a condition experienced in autumn (Webb, 2014). Several other outbreaks occur in autumn especially due to the weather conditions. Rheumatic disease outbreak varies with seasons (Schlesinger, 2009). Environmental factors such as temperature and moisture contribute to the seasonal variations in disease outbreak.

Conclusion

The variations manifested in the plotted figures in the symbol map represent variations in disease outbreaks in different months. The variations presented by the months represent the variations in seasons. Autumn months are prone to outbreaks due to unfavorable weather conditions such as cold and flooding. Luckily, there are experts that are train to track and provide reports on outbreaks if they occur. In 2011, CDC researchers tracked a respiratory outbreak occurring the U.S. (Shafer & Zacharyczuk, 2012). Sample collections, reports and a symbol map provided a true picture of the effects of disease outbreak.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2009). Dengue Frequently Asked Questions. Accessed November 10, 2017 at http://www.cdc.gov/dengue/fAQFacts/index.html

Ellis, K. H. (2008). Emerging infectious diseases plotted on map of 'hotspots'. Infectious Disease News, 21(3), 20. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/docview/200152149?accountid=35812

Schlesinger, N. (2009). Seasonal Variation of Rheumatic Diseases. Discovery Medicine.

Shafer, E., & Zacharyczuk, C. (2012). Unexplained respiratory disease outbreaks common in US. Infectious Disease News, 25(8), 33-34. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/docview/1040724303?accountid=35812

Vidmar, G. (2007). Statistically sound distribution plots in excel. Metodoloski Zvezki, 4(1), 83-98. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/docview/1037801877?accountid=35812

Webb, C. (2014). Why is mosquito-borne disease risk greater in autumn? Mosquito Research and Management. University if Sydney.