Agent-based models have become important tools in ecology, particularly in the study of infectious disease dynamics. Simulations of near-continuous movement paths guided by empirical data offer new avenues of investigation into disease transmission. Here, we simulate the spatiotemporal transmission dynamics of anthrax, the acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, a pathogen transmitted primarily via environmental reservoirs. We explore how calculations of the probabilities of contact between a host and infectious reservoirs are affected by the scale and method of analysis. At both the landscape and individual scales, empirical movement tracks offer previously unattainable estimates of impacts of movement decisions on contact rate metrics. However, the analytical method selected for the calculation of the probability of contact has notable impacts on the resulting estimates, with convex polygons virtually canceling out variation, and unions of local convex hulls (LoCoH methods) and space-time prisms reflecting reasonable variation, but differing in the magnitude of their estimates. The explicit consideration of behavioral states along movement pathways also impacts evaluations of exposure risk, though its effects differ across methods of analysis. Ultimately, simulations demonstrate that the incorporation of movement data into pathogen transmission analyses helps clarify the role of movement processes underlying the observed dynamics of infectious disease.
Infections with parasitic worms, or helminthiases, are a class of neglected tropical diseases that affect at least one billion people worldwide. While some infections are asymptomatic, others can cause severe health conditions such as blindness, epilepsy, and cancer. The burden of these conditions disproportionately affects people in resource-poor areas, making many helminthiases chronically understudied. Mapping helminth outbreaks, prevalence, and habitats in affected regions can offer valuable insights into the spatial scope and burden of these infections. In this study, we conducted a systematic literature review of 232 helminth species that have been recorded infecting humans. Selected out of 6,829 abstracts, we analyzed 485 mapping studies documenting, inferring, or predicting the spatial scope of 45 helminth species. We use these studies to identify hotspots and coldspots of research effort, to highlight gaps in spatial data for particularly harmful or prevalent species, and to collect information about co-occurrence and syndemics among helminthiases and with other diseases. We finally suggest ways these findings could help direct future mapping studies, and ultimately inform public health interventions in understudied and underfunded regions.
Parasite conservation is a rapidly growing field at the intersection of ecology, epidemiology, parasitology, and public health. The overwhelming diversity of parasitic life on earth, and recent work showing that parasites and other symbionts face severe extinction risk, necessitates infrastructure for parasite conservation assessments. Here, we describe the release of the Parasite Extinction Assessment & Red List (PEARL) version 1.0, an open-access database of conservation assessments and distributional data for almost 500 macroparasitic invertebrates. The current approach to vulnerability assessment is based on range shifts and loss from climate change, and will be expanded as additional data (e.g., host-parasite associations and coextinction risk) is consolidated in PEARL. The web architecture is also open-source, scalable, and extensible, making PEARL a template for more eZcient red listing for other high-diversity, data-de1cient groups. Future iterations will also include new functionality, including a user-friendly open data pository and automated assessment and re-listing.
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