The effect of livestock density on Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and T. b. rhodesiense : a causal inference-based approach [article]

Julianne Meisner, Agapitus Kato, Marshall Lemerani, Erick Mwamba Miaka, Acaga Ismail Taban, Jonathan Wakefield, Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, David Pigott, Jonathan Mayer, Peter M Rabinowitz
2022 medRxiv   pre-print
Domestic and wild animals are important reservoirs of the rhodesiense form of human African trypanosomiasis (rHAT), however quantification of this effect offers utility for deploying non-medical control activities, and anticipating their success when wildlife are excluded. Further, the uncertain role of animal reservoirs—particularly pigs—threatens elimination of transmission (EOT) targets set for the gambiense form (gHAT). Using a new time series of high-resolution cattle and pig density maps,
more » ... HAT surveillance data collated by the WHO Atlas of HAT, and methods drawn from causal inference and spatial epidemiology, we conducted a retrospective ecological cohort study in Uganda, Malawi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan to estimate the effect of cattle and pig density on HAT risk.
doi:10.1101/2022.01.13.22268995 fatcat:ospwxmu7zfcklk5hwyfkmrgi3e