Abstract
Echinococcoses are parasitic diseases of major public health importance globally. Human infection results in chronic disease with poor prognosis and serious medical, social and economic consequences for vulnerable populations. According to recent estimates, the geographical distribution of Echinococcus spp. infections is expanding and becoming an emerging and re-emerging problem in several regions of the world. Echinococcosis endemicity is geographically heterogeneous and over time it may be affected by global environmental change. Therefore, landscape epidemiology offers a unique opportunity to quantify and predict the ecological risk of infection at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Here, we review the most relevant environmental sources of spatial variation in human echinococcosis risk, and describe the potential applications of landscape epidemiological studies to characterise the current patterns of parasite transmission across natural and human-altered landscapes. We advocate future work promoting the use of this approach as a support tool for decision-making that facilitates the design, implementation and monitoring of spatially targeted interventions to reduce the burden of human echinococcoses in disease-endemic areas.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40249-016-0109-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Landscape epidemiology is the study of the spatial variation in disease risk, in strong connexion with landscape characteristics and relevant environmental factors that influence the dynamics and distribution of host, vector and pathogen populations
According to Pavlovsky, landscape epidemiology is based on three observations: first, diseases tend to be limited geographically; second, the spatial variation in the distribution of a disease is determined by variations of
This review aims to describe the potential applications of landscape epidemiological studies to establish, quantify and predict the geographical distribution of human echinococcoses and as a decision-making tool to enhance the implementation of spatially targeted interventions against the disease
Summary
Landscape epidemiology is the study of the spatial variation in disease risk, in strong connexion with landscape characteristics and relevant environmental factors that influence the dynamics and distribution of host, vector and pathogen populations. According to Pavlovsky, landscape epidemiology is based on three observations: first, diseases tend to be limited geographically; second, the spatial variation in the distribution of a disease is determined by variations of. Most modern landscape epidemiological studies use Earth observation (EO) to obtain remotely sensed (RS) and in situ data about the environment [5]. To understand ecological factors influencing spatial variations of disease risk, one needs to take into account the pathways of pathogen transmission between vectors, hosts, and the physical environment. Landscape and meteorological factors control not just the emergence and the spatial concentration and spatial diffusion of infection risk
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