At a glance
The Geospatial Research, Analysis, and Services Program (GRASP) and CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) produced a video that explains the vital role geospatial science and technology can play in supporting cruise ship outbreak investigations. The video (All Hands on Deck!), featuring Dr. Amy Lavery and Dr. Jared Rispens, showcases collaborative work that enables CDC to prevent cruise ship outbreaks in the future.
What to know
Overview
This investigation demonstrates how geospatial science, technology, and data can inform the CDC response to outbreaks on cruise ships.
Partners: GRASP; National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP)
GRASP contribution: 3D modeling, geospatial technology, data visualization
Novel partnerships and GIS in public health
Gastrointestinal illnesses (GI) can be challenging to control on cruise ships because of the close living quarters, shared dining areas, and rapid turnover of passengers. In 2018, after an initial epidemiological health investigation of consecutive cruise ship outbreaks, the source of the illness and mode of transmission remained unknown. To strengthen its approach, the Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) partnered with GRASP to use geospatial mapping to visualize the spread of illness in time and space.
Applying geospatial science and technology to enhance traditional public health investigations
To visualize the outbreak, GRASP developed a 3-dimensional (3D) model of the cruise ship, making this one of the first projects where GRASP and VSP used 3D visualization. The 3D ship model enabled the investigation team to map and analyze the location of sick passengers' staterooms as compared to other sick passengers' staterooms and public use spaces such as restaurants, hallways, and entertainment facilities. The investigation team also used the 3D model to map data from public vomiting incidents and mapped two key incidents that took place in public locations during the initial phase of the outbreak. The 3D model enabled the investigation team to understand the relationship between these key incidents and later emergence of passenger sickness.
The GRASP and VSP team used GIS to detect patterns in time and space, such clusters of rooms with sick people emerging during the course of the voyage. To better understand the source of the outbreak, the team also investigated sickness that occurred on the same ship during a voyage immediately before the voyage being investigated. By using GIS, the investigation team discovered that the outbreak on the second voyage started in rooms that had sick passengers on the prior voyage.
Impact of work and future directions
This investigation serves to illustrate how geospatial science and technology can strengthen CDC's response to outbreaks on cruise ships. Tracking the emergence of disease in relation to key events and general public use spaces has implications for the CDC's approach to future cruise ship investigations.
Building on this work, GRASP is exploring how geospatial methods can aid investigations in other confined space environments such as hospitals, hotels, dorms, or other buildings that may have unusual patterns of illness. GRASP has already used this 3D method to develop an approach for the investigation of Legionnaires' disease at a large urban hotel.