Geographic Information Systems for the study and control of infectious diseases  Rajiv Gupta Civil Engineering Group, BITS, Pilani (Raj.) 333 031, India Tel: 0159-7645073*277(O), 0159-7642252(R), 0159-7645030(R), Fax: 0159-7644183 Email: rajiv@bits-pilani.ac.in  Dee Jay Garauv Clinic, Ashram, New Delhi  Rajni Jain Garauv Clinic, Ashram, New Delhi Abstract An infection process is the interaction of a pathogenic microorganism with a macro organism under certain environmental and social conditions. Infectious diseases are classed as anthroponoses (source: man), zoonoses (source: animal), and anthropozoonoses (sources: man and animal). For the epidemic to break out it is not sufficient to have a source of infection alone, but also an appropriate mechanism of transmission. Four mechanisms of infection transmission are: (i) faecal-oral; (ii) air-borne; (iii) transmissive; and (iv) contact and the main factors involved in transmission of infection are: air, water, foods, soil, and arthropods. |