How Can an IDIS Complement Existing Surveillance Systems?
Almost half of the planet s five billion people are at risk for one or more vector-borne diseases (12, 13). Surveillance remains a key tool for monitoring these diseases and identifying new cases and outbreaks. Four types of surveillance are used in the control of vector-borne diseases: 1)recording human cases, 2) determining vector distribution and infectivity, 3) monitoring vertebrate reservoirs, and 4) tracking weather patterns to predict vector distribution (14). But throughout the developing world and across tropical boundaries, effective and continuous surveillance is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Cases are missed; outbreaks go unreported. Effective case reporting and continuous field monitoring are best conducted in limited, well-defined areas. Within the microenvironments of human activities, an IDIS could provide valuable baseline surveillance data before changes to that area occur and affect disease and vector distributions. This information could provide a rational
