Human mobility and the infectious disease transmission: a systematic review

Recent decades have witnessed several infectious disease outbreaks, including the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which had catastrophic impacts on societies around the globe. At the same time, the twenty-first century has experienced an unprecedented era of technological development and de...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: M. Naser Lessani, Zhenlong Li, Fengrui Jing, Shan Qiao, Jiajia Zhang, Bankole Olatosi, Xiaoming Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-11-01
Series:Geo-spatial Information Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2023.2275619
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850247523986309120
author M. Naser Lessani
Zhenlong Li
Fengrui Jing
Shan Qiao
Jiajia Zhang
Bankole Olatosi
Xiaoming Li
author_facet M. Naser Lessani
Zhenlong Li
Fengrui Jing
Shan Qiao
Jiajia Zhang
Bankole Olatosi
Xiaoming Li
author_sort M. Naser Lessani
collection DOAJ
description Recent decades have witnessed several infectious disease outbreaks, including the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which had catastrophic impacts on societies around the globe. At the same time, the twenty-first century has experienced an unprecedented era of technological development and demographic changes: exploding population growth, increased airline flights, and increased rural-to-urban migration, with an estimated 281 million international migrants worldwide in 2020, despite COVID-19 movement restrictions. In this review, we synthesized 195 research articles that examined the association between human movement and infectious disease outbreaks to understand the extent to which human mobility has increased the risk of infectious disease outbreaks. This article covers eight infectious diseases, ranging from respiratory illnesses to sexually transmitted and vector-borne diseases. The review revealed a strong association between human mobility and infectious disease spread, particularly strong for respiratory illnesses like COVID-19 and Influenza. Despite significant research into the relationship between infectious diseases and human mobility, four knowledge gaps were identified based on reviewed literature in this study: 1) although some studies have used big data in investigating infectious diseases, the efforts are limited (with the exception of COVID-19 disease), 2) while some research has explored the use of multiple data sources, there has been limited focus on fully integrating these data into comprehensive analyses, 3) limited research on the global impact of mobility on the spread of infectious disease with most studies focusing on local or regional outbreaks, and 4) lack of standardization in the methodology for measuring the impacts of human mobility on infectious disease spread. By tackling the recognized knowledge gaps and adopting holistic, interdisciplinary methods, forthcoming research has the potential to substantially enhance our comprehension of the intricate interplay between human mobility and infectious diseases.
format Article
id doaj-art-2f2f9516c34d42fcaea8c6ce509ba8d5
institution OA Journals
issn 1009-5020
1993-5153
language English
publishDate 2024-11-01
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
record_format Article
series Geo-spatial Information Science
spelling doaj-art-2f2f9516c34d42fcaea8c6ce509ba8d52025-08-20T01:58:55ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGeo-spatial Information Science1009-50201993-51532024-11-012761824185110.1080/10095020.2023.2275619Human mobility and the infectious disease transmission: a systematic reviewM. Naser Lessani0Zhenlong Li1Fengrui Jing2Shan Qiao3Jiajia Zhang4Bankole Olatosi5Xiaoming Li6Geoinformation and Big Data Research Lab, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USAGeoinformation and Big Data Research Lab, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USAGeoinformation and Big Data Research Lab, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USABig Data Health Science Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USABig Data Health Science Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USABig Data Health Science Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USABig Data Health Science Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USARecent decades have witnessed several infectious disease outbreaks, including the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which had catastrophic impacts on societies around the globe. At the same time, the twenty-first century has experienced an unprecedented era of technological development and demographic changes: exploding population growth, increased airline flights, and increased rural-to-urban migration, with an estimated 281 million international migrants worldwide in 2020, despite COVID-19 movement restrictions. In this review, we synthesized 195 research articles that examined the association between human movement and infectious disease outbreaks to understand the extent to which human mobility has increased the risk of infectious disease outbreaks. This article covers eight infectious diseases, ranging from respiratory illnesses to sexually transmitted and vector-borne diseases. The review revealed a strong association between human mobility and infectious disease spread, particularly strong for respiratory illnesses like COVID-19 and Influenza. Despite significant research into the relationship between infectious diseases and human mobility, four knowledge gaps were identified based on reviewed literature in this study: 1) although some studies have used big data in investigating infectious diseases, the efforts are limited (with the exception of COVID-19 disease), 2) while some research has explored the use of multiple data sources, there has been limited focus on fully integrating these data into comprehensive analyses, 3) limited research on the global impact of mobility on the spread of infectious disease with most studies focusing on local or regional outbreaks, and 4) lack of standardization in the methodology for measuring the impacts of human mobility on infectious disease spread. By tackling the recognized knowledge gaps and adopting holistic, interdisciplinary methods, forthcoming research has the potential to substantially enhance our comprehension of the intricate interplay between human mobility and infectious diseases.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2023.2275619Human mobilitygeographyinfectious diseasessexually transmitted diseasessystematic review
spellingShingle M. Naser Lessani
Zhenlong Li
Fengrui Jing
Shan Qiao
Jiajia Zhang
Bankole Olatosi
Xiaoming Li
Human mobility and the infectious disease transmission: a systematic review
Geo-spatial Information Science
Human mobility
geography
infectious diseases
sexually transmitted diseases
systematic review
title Human mobility and the infectious disease transmission: a systematic review
title_full Human mobility and the infectious disease transmission: a systematic review
title_fullStr Human mobility and the infectious disease transmission: a systematic review
title_full_unstemmed Human mobility and the infectious disease transmission: a systematic review
title_short Human mobility and the infectious disease transmission: a systematic review
title_sort human mobility and the infectious disease transmission a systematic review
topic Human mobility
geography
infectious diseases
sexually transmitted diseases
systematic review
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/10095020.2023.2275619
work_keys_str_mv AT mnaserlessani humanmobilityandtheinfectiousdiseasetransmissionasystematicreview
AT zhenlongli humanmobilityandtheinfectiousdiseasetransmissionasystematicreview
AT fengruijing humanmobilityandtheinfectiousdiseasetransmissionasystematicreview
AT shanqiao humanmobilityandtheinfectiousdiseasetransmissionasystematicreview
AT jiajiazhang humanmobilityandtheinfectiousdiseasetransmissionasystematicreview
AT bankoleolatosi humanmobilityandtheinfectiousdiseasetransmissionasystematicreview
AT xiaomingli humanmobilityandtheinfectiousdiseasetransmissionasystematicreview