Pathogen survival trajectories: an eco-environmental approach to the modeling of human campylobacteriosis ecology.

Abstract

Campylobacteriosis, like many human diseases, has its own ecology in which the propagation of human infection and disease depends on pathogen survival and finding new hosts in order to replicate and sustain the pathogen population. The complexity of this process, a process common to other enteric pathogens, has hampered control efforts. Many unknowns remain, resulting in a poorly understood disease ecology. To provide structure to these unknowns and help direct further research and intervention, we propose an eco-environmental modeling approach for campylobacteriosis. This modeling approach follows the pathogen population as it moves through the environments that define the physical structure of its ecology. In this paper, we term the ecologic processes and environments through which these populations move "pathogen survival trajectories." Although such a modeling approach could have veterinary applications, our emphasis is on human campylobacteriosis and focuses on human exposures to Campylobacter through feces, food, and aquatic environments. The pathogen survival trajectories that lead to human exposure include ecologic filters that limit population size, e.g., cooking food to kill Campylobacter. Environmental factors that influence the size of the pathogen reservoirs include temperature, nutrient availability, and moisture availability during the period of time the pathogen population is moving through the environment between infected and susceptible hosts. We anticipate that the modeling approach proposed here will work symbiotically with traditional epidemiologic and microbiologic research to help guide and evaluate the acquisition of new knowledge about the ecology, eventual intervention, and control of campylobacteriosis.

Influence of Host Ecology and Behavior on Campylobacter jejuni Prevalence and Environmental Contamination Risk in a Synanthropic Wild Bird Species

“…In addition to preening, crows often forage socially on highly concentrated food resources, which may result in frequent fecaloral transmission during foraging. In general, C. jejuni does not survive well in the environment outside the wet and warm conditions of its host (60), but the social behaviors of crows could permit transmission even if C. jejuni survival in feces is brief. For nestlings, we found strong evidence that the infection status of nest mates influenced the risk of infection and that infected nest mates had more similar isolates than expected by chance.…”

Climate variability and campylobacter infection: an international study

“…Risk factors identified for campylobacter infection include recent travel abroad (Schorr et al 1994), occupational exposure in abattoirs and the consumption of chicken in restaurants (EberhartPhillips et al 1997;Rodrigues et al 2000). Water is thought to be an important route of transmission in New Zealand (Duncanson et al 2000;Skelly and Weinstein 2003) and Canada (Clark et al 2003). Treated drinking water can contain campylobacter but usually at levels considered too low to cause disease (Savill et al 2001).…”

Development of a Rapid and Sensitive Method Combining a Cellulose Ester Microfilter and a Real-Time Quantitative PCR Assay To Detect Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in 20 Liters of Drinking Water or Low-Turbidity Waters

“…These bacteria have been shown to be widespread in the natural aquatic environment (6,11,12,25). Feces of contaminated poultry, cattle, or birds and discharge of sewage constitute sources of pollution for the natural aquatic environment (21,29). Consumption of contaminated drinking water constitutes a major route of transmission of Campylobacter and has been implicated in numerous water outbreaks in various countries (14,16,17,18).…”