The landscape epidemiology of zoonotic diseases : rodent-borne bartonella and livestock anthrax
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Zoonotic diseases, caused by pathogens that are transmitted between animals and humans, account for the majority of emerging infectious disease events. Zoonotic diseases are maintained in complex cycles that comprise the interactions among hosts, vectors, and pathogens in the environment. Though land use, an anthropogenic change, must certainly impact these diseases, we know surprisingly little about how land use influences many zoonotic disease systems. Consequently, my dissertation focuses on the environmental drivers of two zoonotic diseases in two countries at high-risk for emerging infectious diseases: a rodent-borne genus of bacteria, Bartonella, in Kenya, and a livestock-borne bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, in Bangladesh. In my first chapter, using high-resolution rodent-trapping data and environmental data, I investigated the impact of land use on rodent abundance and diversity in Laikipia, Kenya. My results indicate that coarser soil textures are associated with higher rodent abundance, which may reflect relative ease of rodent burrowing at coarser soil textures. For my second chapter, I investigate the role of land use, controlling for biophysical variables, on density of rodents infected with Bartonella and the implications for human disease risk in Laikipia, Kenya. Areas of greatest risk for increased density of infected rodents were high precipitation wildlife/ranching areas and low precipitation pasture areas. Recent anthrax outbreak investigations in Bangladesh point to soil exposure as the source of livestock anthrax. In my third chapter, using livestock case-control data, soil maps, and gridded precipitation data, I investigated the seasonality and soil characteristics of livestock anthrax outbreaks and the implications for disease control. I found novel soil parameters uncharacteristic of livestock outbreaks in the literature, and a time series analysis of monthly livestock cases and monthly rainfall suggested that outbreaks are largely seasonal—coinciding with the wet season. Further, my findings indicate that seasonal administration of livestock vaccinations is a potentially viable disease control option for livestock anthrax in Bangladesh.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2017 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Bagge, Whitney |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (Stanford University) |
| Primary advisor | Jones, James |
| Primary advisor | Luby, Stephen |
| Thesis advisor | Jones, James |
| Thesis advisor | Luby, Stephen |
| Thesis advisor | Barry, Michele, MD |
| Thesis advisor | Gaffikin, Lynne |
| Thesis advisor | Lambin, Eric F |
| Advisor | Barry, Michele, MD |
| Advisor | Gaffikin, Lynne |
| Advisor | Lambin, Eric F |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Whitney Bagge. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2017. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2017 by Whitney Oriana Bagge
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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