Water bodies as interfaces and pathways for zoonotic and livestock pathogen transmission in Africa and Scotland

水体作为非洲和苏格兰人畜共患病和牲畜病原体传播的界面和途径

• 批准号: 2705033
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Aberdeen
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2705033
• 关键词: Water; bodies; interfaces; pathways; zoonotic

Waterborne pathogens, such as Leptospira spp., Mycobacterium spp., E. coli and Campylobacter spp., are responsible for important diseases of human and livestock. Water can play an important epidemiological role by facilitating the spatial spread of disease between populations or herds through catchment-wide water flow, and/or by providing a transmission interface between animal species that act as reservoirs of infection and susceptible hosts (e.g. livestock to human transmission or wildlife to livestock transmission). Recent advances in DNA extraction protocols and quantitative molecular diagnostic assays have revolutionised the potential to address key questions, such as what types of freshwater habitats pose the greatest risk for transmission, what role do water courses play in disseminating waterborne pathogens across landscapes and how do temporal changes to water flows and physico-chemical characteristics of water sources influence the abundance of pathogens? In addition to improving our understanding of the epidemiology of waterborne pathogens within catchments, environmental sampling could form the basis of more effective surveillance strategies, as sampling of reservoir hosts can be challenging and expensive.This study will focus on two globally important waterborne pathogen genera, Leptospira spp. and Mycobacterium spp., using catchment wide sampling of water bodies from high risk settings to address key knowledge gaps in our epidemiological understanding. Leptospirosis and mycobacterial infections are key causes of livestock productivity loss and human disease. Leptospirosis is responsible for an estimated 1 million human cases and 60000 deaths annually and contact with water (occupational or recreational) is recognised as a significant risk factor, along with flooding1. Mycobacterium spp. such as M. bovis (responsible for bovine tuberculosis) and M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Map) (responsible for Johne's disease) are economically devastating livestock pathogens and potential public health threats2. Evidence is increasing of the role that water can play in the epidemiology of Mycobacterium spp. For example, wildlife-livestock transmission of M. bovis is more likely to occur at water sources, where animals aggregate and environmental conditions favour the survival of the pathogen3, and water course contamination with Map has been shown to be positively associated with distance down a catchment, rainfall and river flow rate4. Recent global reviews have emphasised the urgent need to improve our understanding of the role that environmental transmission plays in the epidemiology of these pathogens under different contexts1,2.

水生病原体，如钩端螺旋体属，分枝杆菌属，E.大肠杆菌和弯曲杆菌属，是人类和牲畜重要疾病的罪魁祸首。水可发挥重要的流行病学作用，通过全流域的水流促进疾病在人群或畜群之间的空间传播，和/或在作为感染宿主的动物物种和易感宿主之间提供传播界面（例如牲畜向人传播或野生动物向牲畜传播）。DNA提取方案和定量分子诊断分析的最新进展彻底改变了解决关键问题的潜力，例如什么类型的淡水栖息地构成最大的传播风险，水道在传播水媒病原体方面发挥了什么作用，以及水流的时间变化和水源的物理化学特征如何影响病原体的丰度。除了提高我们对集水区内的水传播病原体的流行病学的理解，环境采样可以形成更有效的监测策略的基础上，水库hosts.This研究的采样可以是具有挑战性的和昂贵的将集中在两个全球重要的水传播病原体属，钩端螺旋体属。和分枝杆菌属，利用从高风险环境中采集的集水区范围的水体样本，解决我们对流行病学认识方面的关键知识差距。钩端螺旋体病和分枝杆菌感染是牲畜生产力损失和人类疾病的主要原因。据估计，钩端螺旋体病每年造成100万例人类病例和60000例死亡，与水接触（职业或娱乐）被认为是一个重要的风险因素，沿着疾病1。分枝杆菌属如M. bovis（引起牛结核）和M.鸟亚种副结核病（地图）（负责约翰氏病）是经济上毁灭性的牲畜病原体和潜在的公共卫生威胁2。越来越多的证据表明，水在分枝杆菌的流行病学中可以发挥作用。例如，M.牛瘟更有可能发生在水源，那里的动物聚集，环境条件有利于病原体的生存3，而且已经证明，MAP对水道的污染与集水区的距离、降雨量和河流流速呈正相关4。最近的全球综述强调，迫切需要提高我们对环境传播在不同背景下这些病原体流行病学中所起作用的理解1，2。