This project will use remotely sensed data and satellite imagery to create a map for peridomestic risk for Lyme disease on Block Island, Rhode Island. Certain landscape characteristics such as the amount of vegetation, the greenness and wetness of the vegetation, and the slope of the terrain will be used to assign low and high risk levels to each of the 56 census tracts on Block Island.
Dr. Peter Krause has collected Lyme disease incidence data from Block Island residents for years. This incidence data will be used to determine if higher numbers of cases occur within census tracts designated to be high risk according to the risk map prepared based on landscape characteristics and, if not, which landscape characteristics do differ between low and high risk areas.