Combining viral genetic and animal mobility network data to unravel peste des petits ruminants transmission dynamics in West Africa

Abstract

Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) is a deadly viral disease that mainly affects small domestic ruminants. This disease threaten global food security and rural economy but its control is complicated notably because of extensive, poorly monitored animal movements in infected regions. Here we combined the largest PPR virus genetic and animal mobility network data ever collected in a single region to improve our understanding of PPR endemic transmission dynamics in West African countries. Phylogenetic analyses identified the presence of multiple PPRV genetic clades that may be considered as part of different transmission networks evolving in parallel in West Africa. A strong correlation was found between virus genetic distance and network-related distances. Viruses sampled within the same mobility communities are significantly more likely to belong to the same genetic clade. These results provide evidence for the importance of animal mobility in PPR transmission in the region. Some nodes of the network were associated with PPRV sequences belonging to different clades, representing potential “hotspots” for PPR circulation. Our results suggest that combining genetic and mobility network data could help identifying sites that are key for virus entrance and spread in specific areas. Such information could enhance our capacity to develop locally adapted control and surveillance strategies, using among other risk factors, information on animal mobility.

Molecular epidemiology of peste des petits ruminants virus emergence in critically endangered Mongolian saiga antelope and other wild ungulates

“…However, quantifying the direction and extent of pathogen transmission in multi-host systems is challenging, even in the case of extremely detailed longitudinal study systems with pathogen genomic and host life history data ( Crispell et al, 2019 ). There is thus a need for other types of data, including interspecific contact rates and pathways, and enhanced epidemiological and serological data, to enable approaches that integrate these with genomics ( Viana et al, 2016 ; Crispell et al, 2019 ; Bataille et al, 2021 ) and can lead to an improved understanding of interspecific PPRV transmission dynamics and the epidemiological roles of wildlife species.…”

Molecular epidemiology of peste des petits ruminants virus emergence in critically endangered Mongolian saiga antelope and other wild ungulates

“…However, quantifying the direction and extent of pathogen transmission in multi-host systems is challenging, even in the case of extremely detailed longitudinal study systems with pathogen genomic and host life history data [71]. There is thus a need for other types of data, including interspecific contact rates and pathways, and enhanced epidemiological and serological data, to enable approaches which integrate these with genomics [71–73] and can lead to improved understanding of interspecific PPRV transmission dynamics and the epidemiological roles of wildlife species.…”

Environmental and economic determinants of temporal dynamics of the ruminant movement network of Senegal

“…Network analysis of livestock movements has been recently established as one of the most valuable analytical tools for guiding the surveillance and control policies of transboundary contagious diseases of livestock. In parallel to the accumulation of evidence of the predominant role played by the movement of livestock in the diffusion of pathogens over long distances and in the extension of livestock epidemics [1][2][3] , there is a growing recognition of the usefulness of collecting, centralizing and analyzing mobility data for targeting surveillance and intervention policies 4,5 . In most cases, however, mobility data are collected only sporadically or during specific periods of the year and provide a partial and static representation of the networks that fail to account for their intrinsic dynamic nature.…”