A comparison of three approaches to identify West Nile Virus mosquito space-time hotspots in the Houston Vicinity for the period 2002–2011

Abstract From 2002 to 2011, West Nile virus mosquitoes (WNV) has been ever-present in traps across Harris County, TX which contains the city of Houston. Disease-positive trap locations have peaked twice, from 2002 to 2006 and then again from 2009 onwards. This paper will examine fine scale spatial and temporal patterns in disease-positive mosquito traps for the Houston area across this time frame, using three different analytical approaches: kernel density, spatial filtering and SaTScan. The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to identify spatial and space-time clusters of WNV in order to spatially prioritize subsequent research for causative associations. Secondly, to compare the effectiveness of three methods that vary in complexity and ease of use in order to suggest a transferable methodology for mosquito control and environmental health departments across the United States with only lower level GIS skillsets. This paper also illustrates a successful ongoing academic and mosquito control collaboration with the Harris County Public Health Services Mosquito Control Division's (MCD) program.