Increased Severity of Antibiotic Resistance: Lethal Superbug CRE in the U.S.
We are no strangers to E.Coli. The bacteria is naturally present in our soil, water, and digestive tracts, as well as contaminating our food supply every now and then. E.Coli — along with Salmonella, Klebsiella, and a host more — all belong to the Enterobacteriaceae family of bacteria, which are becoming harder to treat due to their increasing resistance to common antibiotics over the years.
Select strains of enterobacteriaceae-based infections, such as klebsiella pneumoniae, have grown immune to the treatment of routine antibiotics, and ultimately to carbapenems (a broad spectrum class of antibiotics), which is the last resort regimen. This progressive resistance to available antibiotics has resulted in the development of “superbug” Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE — a nightmare scenario for public health and healthcare officials. CRE infections are most common in healthcare settings among individuals with already serious conditions; it has a high rate of morbidity and mortality, killing up to 50% of infected patients. At present, CRE is not a reportable disease, but it is present in 42 U.S. states as determined by two surveillance systems, the Emerging Infections Program and National Healthcare Safety Network which track healthcare-associated infections; this map indicates CRE trends and prevalence in the U.S.
The CDC has issued a Health Advisory urging healthcare professionals and facilities to take extra preventative measures to safeguard against CRE’s spread. Uniform reporting requirements would help in making CRE more readily traceable among healthcare institutions and communities.
Data Source: www.cdc.gov/hai
Oksana Hucul, Public Health Liaison, gis@vertices.com
Disease Trend in Your Area
User generated content that track and shows trend of sickness in your area. Who is sick is an interactive map that shows trending sickness within a locality, and offers the opportunity for users to discuss the symptoms with each other. It allows the users to predict their vulnerability based on their own predisposition ailments within their area.
Data Source:http://www.whoissick.org/sickness/
Renice Obure, Intern, gis@vertices.com
Hurricane Sandy: Who died, Where and Why?
Hurricane Sandy sure did wreck havoc into our lives! But it is over now and things have been fleetingly getting back to normal. The economic, health and environmental impact of the storm are just beginning to be felt but that is for the government to worry about. There are individuals however who will never forget Sandy. People who will never get to see their loved ones again, thanks to Sandy.
This interactive map showing names of people who died, where they died, nature of their death and their age was first published by the New York Times based on data that was collected as deaths were being reported.
Visit theguardian for downloadable data on all reported deaths across the continent.
Data Source: The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com
Renice Obure, Research Intern, gis@vertices.com
Visualize Planned Parenthood Clinics
LOCATION OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD CLINICS
A new interactive map shows that planned parenthood clinics targets minority neighborhoods. The map released by a group called Protecting Black life uses census data to visualize just where the clinics have been situated. To view more click here
Visit lifesite to read more on this issue
Data Source: Protecting BlackLife
http://www.protectingblacklife.org/index.html
Renice Obure, Research Intern, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
After the 2nd Presidential Debate: The maps are talking
MAP OF THE POLLS AFTER THE 2ND DEBATE
The debate held on 10/16/2012 was much heated the first. Now opinion polls are rushing 
to understand the after-effects on voters on states across the country. Even better this has been mapped here
Visit the economist online for the latest interactive map and view a trend by taking a look at the 2008 results.
Data source: the economist online
Renice Obure, Research intern, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
Tracking the US Drought Over Time
US DROUGHT MAP
2011 & 2012 has proven to be the year of drought with Texas taking it’s worst hit last year. This interactive map from NPR shows trend across time from 2011 to present with the latest update from August 2012. Interacting with the data on the map reveals more trends across several years.
Visit npr drought for more information on counties severely affected.
Data Source: Data Sources: U.S. Drought Monitor, National Drought Mitigation Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | Send feedback | Updated 8/23/12
Renice Obure, Research Intern, Vertices gis@vertices.org
Visualising and tracking homicide cases in New York City
Reports filed at the New York Police Department and in the courts can be now be visualized in an interactive map that has been released by the new york times. The map outlines the frequencies and more vital information on the crime report.
Read the full story from NY Times here
Source: NY Times NY REGION
http://projects.nytimes.com/crime/homicides/map
Renice Obure, Research Intern, Vertices, gis@vertices.org
Realigning of national boundaries
THE NEW BOUNDARIES MAP
South Sudan was the result of more than a decade long civil strife in the Republic of Sudan. Now with more economic and civil unrest occurring remotely in different areas of the world, there is an anticipation of a looming realignment of the national boundaries that would result in a new map looking like this according to an opinion piece in NY TIMES Published on 09/22/2012
The colored areas highlight the areas in which new boundaries are likely to occur due to the current and political atmosphere of these areas.
For more information visit the interactive map
For this piece there is country specific information for Belgium, Congo DRC, Mali, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, (Siberia-China-Russia) and Korea.
Source: NY TIMES OPINION by Jacob and Farag Khanna
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/the-new-world.html
Renice Obure, Research Intern, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
Food Crisis: Who gets affected
MAP OF FOOD SPIKES EFFECTS AROUND THE WORLD
So there is a looming food health crisis? Who will get affected. Food crisis around the world have been known to cause political uncertainty, instability, inflation and civil unrest
Oxfam has made an interactive map showing the food spikes volatility points around the world which get the worst out of any food crisis
Check out the the food volatility points and what else you can do to help the situation at Oxfam
Source: Oxfam America
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/press/articles/food-price-spikes
Renice Obure, Research Intern, Vertices, gis@vertices.org
Unilever Goes GIS
MAP OF THE UNILEVER ALERTS AS OF 09/26/2012
Lifebuoy a product of the Unilever company meant to provide clean hands and bodies has teamed up with healthmap to provide even more! Healthy people! In this interactive map Lifebuoy employs GIS to offer real time alerts and information on the current outbreaks around the globe, the exact location and the severity. Unilever goes the extra mile of providing hands-on prevention tips. And the website design is a plus, it has the consumer in mind! This is gold for globe trotters!
For more on this interactive map and real time alerts click here
Want to know more about healthmap click here
Visit healthmap projects for other interesting collaborations employing GIS technology
Source: Lifebuoy Healthmap
Renice Obure, Research Intern, Vertices, gis@vertices.org
Accessiblity to Primary HealthCare in Western Rwanda
Rwanda has been on the forefront for implementing primary healthcare networks better than most developing countries in the recent years. GIS mapping has been found effective in understanding the accessibility of these facilities to the population for purposes of better planning and modelling for other nations. Primary health care is the backbone for achieving the millennium development goals(MDG’s) which advocate for affordable and accessible health care to all.
PRIMARY HEALTHCARE FACILITIES IN WESTERN RWANDA
Source: International Journal of Health Geographic
Renice Obure, Research Intern, Vertices, gis@vertices.org
Mapping Sanitation Facilities in Bangladesh
SHARE (Sanitation and Hygiene Applied Research for Equity) is a consortium of five organizations that have come together to generate rigorous and relevant research for use in the field of sanitation and hygiene. SHARE is a five year initiative (2010-2015) funded by the UK Department for International Development (shareresearch.org). An objective of SHARE is to both synthesize existing knowledge and to generate new knowledge for improved policy and practice.
In April 2012, Joseph Pearce and Sue Cavill, of SHARE’s partner WaterAid, were in Bangladesh to pilot the SHARE-funded Sanitation Mapper – an online tool to map sanitation facilities. The tool was designed to provide both area-based mapping and point-based mapping in efforts to provide useful information that could impact decision-making, planning, and the overall understanding of access to sanitation in particular areas of interest. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology has offered individuals with a mechanism for better understanding and addressing pressing issues and need. The pilot Sanitation Mapper offers a way for managers and planners to better understand where increased access to sanitation is needed.
To read more about the April 2012 Bangladesh pilot project, check out Mapping Sanitation Facilities in Bangladesh.
Pearce and Cavill have since then conducted further testing and training of the Sanitation Mapper in Tanzania in June 2012.
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
Mapping Toilets in Mumbai Slums Yields Unexpected Results
In the Mumbai slum known as Cheeta Camp, lavatory facilities are dismal, and this issue is quite alarming from an urban public health perspective, as it deals with sanitation.
James Potter and several students from the Harvard School of Public Health who traveled to Mumbai to research the city’s slums decided to create a map of Cheeta Camp’s toilets. Variables were investigated like where they were located, who had put them up, how they functioned, and if they were even operational. You can explore the map here.
As stated in the article, “the act of naming streets, counting citizens and mapping facilities turns information into an advocacy tool.” Certainly, gaining a better understanding of the location of toilets, availability, and ratio of toilets to people is an extremely valuable partition of information necessary in understanding urban public health in an environment of this nature.
The students have given the map to local NGO’s and the medical director of Cheeta Camp’s health center, who believe that this information will be helpful. Upon finalization of the map, the students from Harvard will present it to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, the city’s governing body.
Read the full article here.
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
Striking Differences in Life Expectancies in Baltimore Neighborhoods
City health data from Baltimore, Maryland illustrates a startling difference between the life expectancy of those in rich and poor neighborhoods. Life expectancy for those living the the richest neighborhoods is 20 years longer than for those in the poorest.
The Baltimore Sun used city data to develop an interactive map that illustrates these striking differences. The city of Baltimore has created Healthy Baltimore 2015, which is a plan to target the top 10 health-related ailments that are impacting people there. For the first time, the city is utilizing mapping in such a way that illustrates these specific and comprehensive goals, which include smoking cessation and obesity reduction.
Read the full article, and check out the interactive map.
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
Vaccine-Preventable Outbreaks Interactive Map
The Global Health Program at the Council on Foreign Relations provides a Vaccine-Preventable Outbreaks interactive map that displays a visual plot of the global outbreaks of measles, mumps, whooping cough, polio, rubella, and other diseases that can be easily prevented by vaccines.
Since 2008, the project has sought to promote awareness of global health problems that are easily preventable via inexpensive and effective vaccinations.
Check out the Vaccine-Preventable Outbreaks interactive map!
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
New York Health Department Restaurant Ratings Map
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene performs unannounced sanitary inspections of every restaurant at least once a year. This interactive map displays a letter grade for each inspected establishment, which is representative of a violation point system. The interactive map offers individuals with the opportunity to explore the letter grades of all of the restaurants in the city, along with violation descriptions.
Check out the NY Health Department Restaurant Ratings interactive map!
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
Chicago’s Cooling Centers Interactive Map
Many regions in the United States just underwent a searing heat wave, and more are expected to come this summer. These oppressive record high temperatures make being indoors in cooler temperatures more desired and safer in general, but access to air conditioning is not always an option for individuals.
The City of Chicago offers a “Cooling Centers” interactive map that displays locations where individuals can escape the oppressive heat.
Check out the Cooling Centers interactive map.
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
UK flood warning map: Delivering Up-To-Date Information
The UK Environment Agency provides data from its many nationwide monitoring stations that issue flood warnings and alerts. All of the most recent alerts (within 15 minutes) are displayed on an interactive map, alerting citizens of potential hazards while additionally offering them a custom alert function that sends warnings right to their Facebook accounts if there is a flood warning near home or a place of work.
To learn more about this mapping initiative, check out the full article here.
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
Mapping Type 2 Diabetes Hotspots in London
Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London used Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to create detailed maps with type 2 diabetes data.
The resulting maps highlighted geographical hotspots for type 2 diabetes, and these hotspots revealed fantastic similarities to poverty maps created during the late 19th Century by Charles Booth.
The utilization of GIS helps local authorities and those in the field of healthcare and medicine to properly assess and tackle many health-related hardships that communities face. GIS has provided an invaluable tool for understanding, assessing, and addressing the many pressing health issues that populations encounter daily.
To learn more about the type 2 diabetes mapping project in London, please explore the article and additional information published by Queen Mary, University of London.
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
“Geo-medicine” Improving Public Health
“Geo-medicine” combines geographic information system (GIS) software with clinical databases. The resulting maps have been proven useful in providing insights that might improve individual and population health by revealing hidden disease patterns.
In healthcare, this approach is useful in finding correlations between health conditions and the geographical areas where patients live. For example, GIS maps can correlate health conditions and environmental factors in the areas where patients grew up in comparison to where they currently live to gain a better understanding of the implications of those varying environments on human health.
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
Mapping Women’s Reproductive Health in Texas
The Texas Tribune put together an interactive map to show how many pregnancies, births, and abortions occur across Texas. All of the data included was collected and published by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and is reflective of 2009.
The map shows some of the DSHS statistics broken down by age and race or ethnicity.
Source: The Texas Tribune
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
Illinois Public Health Community Map
The purpose of the map is to make information about the quality of health in communities available to the public. Coupling GIS and health data is useful for advocacy, planning, and policy. The Illinois Public Health Community map uses clinical data from hospital and emergency room discharges. This type of data can be used to investigate the health needs of a community, county, or region.
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
Global Disease Outbreak Monitoring
HealthMap was created by a team of professionals at Children’s Hospital Boston. This map displays online informal sources for disease outbreak monitoring and real-time surveillance of emerging public health threats. The information provides a wide range of emerging infectious diseases all over the world, reaching a diverse audience, from a diverse array of sources including online news, validated official reports, eyewitness reports, and more. This unification of information made available on a global interactive map provides a comprehensive yet effective way to observe the current global state of infectious and emerging diseases.
Lisa MacCarrigan, Research Assistant, Vertices, gis@vertices.com
Geospatial Revolution Project: Showing Mapping Solutions to Obesity
The Geospatial Revolution Project is a great integrated public service media and outreach initiative about the world of digital mapping and how it is changing the way we think, behave, and interact. Below is a video clip from Episode 2, showing how to find a healthy future through mapping supermarkets.
Mapping access to supermarkets in the United States can improve access to healthier foods to reduce obesity. A a new app online called Food Desert Finder is an interactive map, displaying people in poverty without walkable (1 mile) access to a supermarket. VERTICES has also worked and contributed to similar projects from mapping healthy places to eat and grocery shop in Newark, New Jersey and mapping safe bike routes.
The Geospatial Revolution Project’s video’s are great to learn about the impacts of digital mapping! So far there were three episodes launched. The next one, Episode 4, will air May 3rd on the Big Ten Network, covering disease tracking and the benefits and challenges of using predictive technologies for cultural, agricultural, and environmental issues. These video’s can also be viewed on their website.
Source: Geospatial Revolution Project; Directions Magazine; Mapping Access to Supermarkets in the US; GIS in Public Health
Sachiye Day, VERTICES intern. sachiye@vertices.com
