The Lyme and Tickborne Disease Dashboard: A map-based resource to promote public health awareness and research collaboration

Frank C Curriero; Cara Wychgram; Alison W Rebman; Anne E Corrigan; Anton Kvit; Timothy Shields; John N Aucott

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0260122

The Lyme and Tickborne Disease Dashboard: A map-based resource to promote public health awareness and research collaboration

PLoS One. 2021 Dec 1;16(12):e0260122. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260122. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Frank C Curriero¹, Cara Wychgram¹, Alison W Rebman², Anne E Corrigan¹, Anton Kvit¹, Timothy Shields¹, John N Aucott²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Spatial Science for Public Health Center, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
² Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Lyme Disease Research Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.

Abstract

With the incidence of Lyme and other tickborne diseases on the rise in the US and globally, there is a critical need for data-driven tools that communicate the magnitude of this problem and help guide public health responses. We present the Johns Hopkins Lyme and Tickborne Disease Dashboard (https://www.hopkinslymetracker.org/), a new tool that harnesses the power of geography to raise awareness and fuel research and scientific collaboration. The dashboard is unique in applying a geographic lens to tickborne diseases, aiming not only to become a global tracker of tickborne diseases but also to contextualize their complicated geography with a comprehensive set of maps and spatial data sets representing a One Health approach. We share our experience designing and implementing the dashboard, describe the main features, and discuss current limitations and future directions.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Awareness
Communicable Disease Control / methods*
Geography, Medical
Humans
Intersectoral Collaboration
Lyme Disease / epidemiology*
Lyme Disease / prevention & control
Software*

Grants and funding

The Johns Hopkins Lyme and Tickborne Disease Dashboard is funded by a gift from the David P. Nolan Charitable Fund (to FCC, no grant number). The funder provided input on the dashboard design but was not involved in data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.