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| Ecosystem disturbance and multiscale transmission of a zoonotic wildlife pathogenSummaryPrincipal Investigator: Philip Craig Affiliation: University of Salford Country: UK Abstract: A key element in disease emergence/re-emergence is ecosystem disruption as a result of anthropogenic effects which may be rapid as in tropical deforestation or more subtle as in agricultural expansion and overgrazing in temperate biomes. There is however difficulty in developing suitable models to study ecology of infectious diseases, wherein spatial determinants that meaningfully characterize wildlife reservoir habitat, can be linked in turn to host ecology and to dynamics of pathogen/parasite transmission. Using a multidisciplinary approach, grounded on 5 years of collaborative data collected in China from studies on human exposure, transmission ecology, landscape characterization and epidemiology for a pathogenic zoonotic helminth (Echinococcus multilocularis), we aim to develop a general spatio-deterministic model that provides a practical synthesis of host-landscape ecology and transmission models. This approach will be applied study the ecology of transmission of Echinococcus between canids and small mammal reservoir hosts in a geographically defined zone, the Tibetan Plateau (comprising, Sichuan, Qinghai, and Tibet Autonomous Region), and compare wildlife and semi-domestic transmission patterns with that of a geographically separated endemic focus in Central Asia (Xinjiang/Kazahkstan region). A central goal will be to quantify the impact of ecosystem disruption, through livestock over-grazing, socio-economic effects on land-use, and agriculture or deforestation, on the transmission ecology of the parasite, especially in relation to maintenance of enzootic meta-stability at local and regional scales, and to determine relative zoonotic potential. The integrated spatio-deterministic model will be applied at regional scale and tested using simulations that will enable disease (echinococcosis) risk forecasting and development of optimal control/intervention strategies for high risk communities. 2 main hypotheses will be addressed. Firstly, at ecosystem level (the Plateau); parasite transmission may behave as a meta-stable focus despite inherent and peripheral instabilities. Secondly, spatial variables in the form of landscape characteristics can be linked to parasite transmission dynamics using an integrated modeling approach that takes into account multi-level heterogeneity at habitat, host and parasite domains. Funding Period: 2000-09-30 - 2008-12-31 more information: NIH RePORT Top Publications
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Publications
A canine purgation study and risk factor analysis for echinococcosis in a high endemic region of the Tibetan plateauChristine M Budke
Institute for Parasitology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 266a, CH 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
Vet Parasitol 127:43-49. 2005..Male dogs were more likely to be infected with Echinococcus spp. than female dogs (P<0.05) and dogs allowed to roam were more likely to be infected with E. multilocularis (P<0.05)...
Landscape composition and spatial prediction of alveolar echinococcosis in southern Ningxia, ChinaDavid R J Pleydell
Department of Chrono Environment, UMR UFC CNRS 6249 aff INRA, Universite de Franche Comte, Besancon, France
PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2:e287. 2008..Habitat availability is thought to affect arvicoline population dynamic patterns and definitive host-intermediate host interactions. Arvicoline habitat correlates with AE prevalence in Western Europe and southern Gansu Province, China...- Evaluation of three PCR assays for the identification of the sheep strain (genotype 1) of Echinococcus granulosus in canid feces and parasite tissuesBelgees S Boufana
Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, University of Salford, United Kingdom
Am J Trop Med Hyg 78:777-83. 2008..Improvement of PCR tests for Echinococcus species and subspecific variants should rely on the use of less-conserved genes and development of protocols that improve the quality and quantity of DNA extracted from feces... - Species identification of human echinococcosis using histopathology and genotyping in northwestern ChinaTiaoying Li
Sichuan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, PR China
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 102:585-90. 2008.... - Canine echinococcosis in Kyrgyzstan: using prevalence data adjusted for measurement error to develop transmission dynamics modelsI Ziadinov
Institute of Parasitology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 266a, CH 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
Int J Parasitol 38:1179-90. 2008..multilocularis of 11% (CIs 6-29%) compared with 26% in free-roaming dogs (CIs 17-44%) and independently within these groups hunting dogs were more likely to be infected than non-hunting dogs... - Assessment of use of microsatellite polymorphism analysis for improving spatial distribution tracking of echinococcus multilocularisJ Knapp
Institute of Parasitology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
J Clin Microbiol 45:2943-50. 2007..The complex EmsB pattern was able to discriminate isolates on a regional and sectoral level, while avoiding overdistinction. EmsB will be used to assess the putative emergence of E. multilocularis in Europe... - Molecular characterization of a novel gene encoding an 8-kDa-subunit of antigen B from Echinococcus granulosus genotypes 1 and 6Wulamu Mamuti
Department of Parasitology, Asahikawa Medical College, Midorigaoka Higashi 2 1 1 1, Asahikawa 078 8510, Japan
Parasitol Int 56:313-6. 2007..granulosus genotypes 1 and 6 by PCR, and named as EgG1AgB8/5 and EgG6AgB8/5, respectively. The phylogenetic relationship of these genes with other genes encoding the antigen B 8-kDa-subunit monomers was also discussed... - A molecular phylogeny of the genus Echinococcus inferred from complete mitochondrial genomesM Nakao
Department of Parasitology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Hokkaido 078 8510, Japan
Parasitology 134:713-22. 2007..Host-parasite co-evolution comparisons suggest that the ancestral homeland of Echinococcus was North America or Asia, depending on whether the ancestral definitive hosts were canids or felids... - The evolutionary radiation of Arvicolinae rodents (voles and lemmings): relative contribution of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA phylogeniesThomas Galewski
Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Phylogénie et Paléobiologie CC064, Institut des Sciences de l Evolution UMR 5554 CNRS, Universite Montpellier II, France
BMC Evol Biol 6:80. 2006.... - Dual infection of animal hosts with different Echinococcus species in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet plateau region of ChinaNing Xiao
Department of Parasitology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
Am J Trop Med Hyg 75:292-4. 2006..shiquicus in the liver. The high susceptibility of some mammalian hosts to the parasites and the high prevalence of the three co-endemic species probably increase the chance of mixed infections in the eastern Tibetan plateau... - EmsB, a tandem repeated multi-loci microsatellite, new tool to investigate the genetic diversity of Echinococcus multilocularisJ M Bart
Parasitology Department, SERF Team Equipe Santé Environnement Rural Franche Comté, Faculty of Medicine, University of Franche Comte, France
Infect Genet Evol 6:390-400. 2006..e. sensitivity, repetitiveness and discriminatory power. It will permit assessing the genetic polymorphism of E. multilocularis and to investigate its spatial distribution in detail... - Echinococcus multilocularis: developmental stage-specific expression of Antigen B 8-kDa-subunitsWulamu Mamuti
Department of Parasitology, Asahikawa Medical College, Japan
Exp Parasitol 113:75-82. 2006..multilocularis vesicles, protoscoleces, and immature adult worms. Possible functions of different expression manners are also discussed... - Recent advances in characterization of Echinococcus antigen BWulamu Mamuti
Department of Parasitology, Asahikawa Medical College, Japan
Parasitol Int 55:S57-62. 2006..This review focuses on recent advances in molecular biological and immunological characterization of AgB from both of E. granulosus and E. multilocularis... - [Field trial on rapid detection of echinococcosis by dot immunogold filtration assay (DIGFA) with whole blood sample]Xin-hua Chen
Surgical Lab, The First Affiliated Hospital Medical School Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310031, China
Zhongguo Ji Sheng Chong Xue Yu Ji Sheng Chong Bing Za Zhi 23:90-2. 2005..05). CONCLUSION: The DIGFA kit is rapid, simple and reliable in epidemiological study of hydatid disease, with an advantage of using whole blood sample instead of serum... - [Epidemiological survey on echinococcosis in Darlag County of Qinghai Province]Xiu min Han
Qinghai Institute for Endemic Disease Prevention and Control, Xining 811602, China
Zhongguo Ji Sheng Chong Xue Yu Ji Sheng Chong Bing Za Zhi 27:22-6. 2009..To make an epidemiological investigation on echinococcosis in Darlag County, Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province...