Press contact: Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639 Public contact:
Science, Technology and Business Division (202) 707-5664 Public
contact: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (301) 614-6627 April
25, 2011 NASA Scientist Assaf Anyamba to Discuss “Predicting
Disease Outbreaks from Space,” May 18 An early warning system
more than a decade in development successfully predicted the
2006-2007 outbreak of the deadly Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in East
Africa and subsequent outbreaks in Sudan (2007) and South Africa
(2008-2011). RVF is a deadly hemorrhagic disease transmitted by
mosquitoes that infects livestock and human populations
episodically. An international team of research scientists,
public-health professionals, agricultural specialists and
military personnel had worked for a decade to successfully
predict when and where an outbreak of RVF would occur. NASA
scientist Assaf Anyamba, an expert on using earth science
satellite data to see links among weather, disease and famine,
will discuss "Predicting Disease Outbreaks fr