Similar application of risk analysis developed by NASA using satellite data has also been used in the study of diseases such as malaria, Lyme disease and Rift Valley fever. The scientists correlated years of hospital cholera records from Bangladesh with sea temperature and ocean height data that came from a variety of satellites and surface observations. Satellites not only can measure water temperature and ocean height, but also can measure colors that indicate plankton and chlorophyll over a large sea area, Lobitz explained. Tracking sea temperatures from ships and by other direct measurements is too expensive to be practical, he added. Cholera may result in extreme diarrhea, vomiting and loss of water.
Victims can die within a day or so unless body fluids are replenished quickly.
The seventh cholera pandemic began in 1961 and now affects six continents, according to the paper. A pandemic is an epidemic that occurs over a large region. Sea height is important because tides reach further inland to affect more people who may drink or bathe in brackish water carrying cholera. These are in the spring and fall. The authors discovered that the sea surface temperatures show an annual cycle similar to the cholera-case data.