Abstract
Dynamic and integrative approaches to understanding pathogen spillover.
Highlights
Cite this article: Becker DJ, Washburne AD, Faust CL, Pulliam JRC, Mordecai EA, LloydSmith JO, Plowright RK. 2019 Dynamic and integrative approaches to understanding pathogen spillover
Many of the examples considered pertain to zoonotic spillover, given recent epidemics (e.g. Ebola virus [5]) and pandemics (e.g. H1N1 influenza virus [6]); we emphasize the general methods and mechanisms involved in understanding spillover between any two species, such as those that threaten wildlife conservation (e.g. Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae from domestic sheep to bighorn sheep [7]) and the agricultural sector (e.g. Brucella abortus from elk to cattle [8])
The distribution of reservoir hosts is often studied through ecology, contact between reservoirs and humans is often studied via epidemiology or anthropology, and the pathogenesis of zoonoses in humans is often studied with medical microbiology and immunology
Summary
Pathogen spillover is the process by which a pathogen is transmitted from a reservoir host species to a recipient host species [1,2]. Spillover requires the spatial and temporal alignment of several hierarchical factors that must occur for a pathogen to be transmitted from a reservoir or source host to a recipient host of a different species [9] These factors include reservoir host distribution and abundance, pathogen prevalence and shedding from reservoir hosts; pathogen survival in the environment or arthropod vector; recipient host contact with the infectious agent, reservoir host or arthropod vector; and susceptibility of the recipient host. Epidemic preparedness and management interventions would all benefit from integrative approaches that consider multiple components of pathogen spillover [1] This theme issue stemmed from a 2018 workshop on cross-species transmission of pathogens, where participants from interlinked fields including. We summarize these contributions to highlight key insights, methodologies and future directions to improve our understanding of pathogen spillover
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