rift valley academy position computer adminsitrator

Then, a subsequent 1999 Science paper described link between the disease and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Department of Agriculture and Compton Tucker of NASA Goddard. The link between the mosquito life cycle and vegetation growth was first described in a 1987 Science paper by co-authors Kenneth Linthicum of the U.S. 'To do all that, we need to understand a disease in the endemic region,' Anyamba said. Dambos are natural breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes and can be observed from space with the aid of satellites. Scientists study a typical dambo habitat at Sukari Farm, a long-term Rift Valley Fever study site just outside Nairobi, Kenya. Such predictions would not only aid mitigation efforts in the endemic countries and protect the global public, but would help protect American civilian and military personnel located and traveling overseas, ensure the safety of imported goods and animals, and prevent infected humans or mosquitoes from entering the United States. Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System-to see if predictions of an outbreak could be made operational. The 1997 outbreak provoked the formation of a working group-funded by the U.S. About 90,000 people were infected with the virus, which is carried by mosquitoes and transmitted to humans by mosquito bites or through contact with infected livestock. During an intense El Niño event in 1997, the largest known outbreak of Rift Valley fever spread across the Horn of Africa.

The first-of-its-kind prediction is the culmination of decades of research. The researchers described their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The final product, a Rift Valley fever 'risk map,' gave public health officials in East Africa up to six weeks of warning for the 2006-2007 outbreak, enough time to lessen human impact. Utilizing that link, researchers including Assaf Anyamba, a geographer and remote sensing scientist with the University of Maryland Baltimore County and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., used a blend of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration measurements of sea surface temperatures, precipitation, and vegetation cover to predict when and where an outbreak would occur. Rift Valley fever is unique in that its emergence is closely linked to interannual climate variability. Credit: Assaf Anyamba and the NASA Earth ObservatoryĪn early warning system, more than a decade in development, successfully predicted the 2006-2007 outbreak of the deadly Rift Valley fever in northeast Africa, according to a new study led by NASA scientists. Yellow dots represent reported RVF cases in high-risk areas, while blue dots represent occurrences in non-risk areas. Pink areas depict increased risk of disease, while pale green areas reflect normal risk. A risk-assessment map shows the areas of increased risk of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in eastern Africa from fall 2006 to spring 2007.

Rift valley academy position computer adminsitrator