Global and local environmental changes as drivers of Buruli ulcer emergence

Abstract

Many emerging infectious diseases are caused by generalist pathogens that infect and transmit via multiple host species with multiple dissemination routes, thus confounding the understanding of pathogen transmission pathways from wildlife reservoirs to humans. The emergence of these pathogens in human populations has frequently been associated with global changes, such as socio-economic, climate or biodiversity modifications, by allowing generalist pathogens to invade and persist in new ecological niches, infect new host species, and thus change the nature of transmission pathways. Using the case of Buruli ulcer disease, we review how land-use changes, climatic patterns and biodiversity alterations contribute to disease emergence in many parts of the world. Here we clearly show that Mycobacterium ulcerans is an environmental pathogen characterized by multi-host transmission dynamics and that its infectious pathways to humans rely on the local effects of global environmental changes. We show that the interplay between habitat changes (for example, deforestation and agricultural land-use changes) and climatic patterns (for example, rainfall events), applied in a local context, can lead to abiotic environmental changes and functional changes in local biodiversity that favor the pathogen's prevalence in the environment and may explain disease emergence.

Mycobacterium ulcerans Infection in French Guiana; Current State of Knowledge

“…Two hypotheses may explain the observed peaks and recessions of cases of BU. Firstly, the long periods of wet weather characterised by floods, during which the bacteria could be dispersed across the floodplain, are followed by a decrease in rainfall that leads the flooded areas to recede into a series of disconnected stagnant pools prone to bacterial development [7]. These rapid changes in aquatic habitat from flowing, well oxygenated habitats with rich animal communities to eutrophic, diversity poor communities have been shown to favour the development of M. ulcerans in the environment.…”

“…A study on a larger number of environmental samples was conducted to study the links between the drivers of freshwater foodwebs in French Guiana and the emergence of M. ulcerans in the environment. A collection of 3600 invertebrates and fish were sampled and catalogued from 17 freshwater sites across French Guiana [7,13]. Landscape data as a measure of land use along a gradient from urban through agricultural to pristine rain forest were extracted from two maps including the CORINE 2006 European land cover map using satellite-derived data and the Hansen deforestation map.…”

Bioinformatics-base and Determinants of the Spatiotemporal Variations of Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases

“…The emergence and re-emergence of the pathogens in all populations are mostly inextricably linked with global modifications, such as anthropogenic socioeconomic attributes, climate or biodiversity alterations via the invasion and colonization in novel ecological niches, and thereby modifying the characteristics of transmission pathways which are amenable to prevalence of the pathogen in the ambient with resultant emergence and re-emergence of infectious disorders and parasitoses [11]. Parasitoses are widely disseminated in the animal kingdom and plants.…”

“…For the development of effective and efficient control as well as regulatory modalities, it is pertinent that reliable computational procedures and tools are employed to understand and elucidate the dynamics of diseases for the prediction of emerging and re-emerging cases, whereby the computational and predictive tools are applicable by policymakers and healthcare administrators in informed and constitutive sustainable decision-making. Numerous emerging and reemerging infectious diseases are etiologically defined by generalist pathogens which infect and transmit by means of multiple hosts with diverse dissemination trajectories, thus obfuscating the important elucidation of pathways and trajectories of pathogens [11].…”

Development and characterization of ternary mixture series of medium‐ and long‐chain saturated fatty acids for energy applications

“…PCM plays an imperative role in conveyance and handling of temperature‐sensitive blood samples, serums, vaccines, venoms, and medicines where there is requirement of maintaining any invariable conditions . In recent years, the biomedical researchers have effectively used PCMs for the treatment of Buruli ulcers prevalent in many tropical countries where the surgical treatment is very costly . The solar drying system with storage concept is also widely used to demoisturize agricultural products, namely, fruits, vegetables, and cereals …”