Physiology and ecology combine to determine host and vector importance for Ross River virus

eLife

Hamish McCallum¹  Erin A Mordecai²  Eloise B Skinner³  Morgan P Kain⁴  Andrew F van den Hurk⁵ 

[1] Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia;Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, United States;Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, United States;Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia;Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, United States;Natural Capital Project, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, United States;Public Health Virology, Forensic and Scientific Services, Department of Health, Brisbane, Australia;

关键词: host competence;    vector competence;    next generation matrix;    disease spillover;    emerging arbovirus;    None;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.67018

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

Identifying the key vector and host species that drive the transmission of zoonotic pathogens is notoriously difficult but critical for disease control. We present a nested approach for quantifying the importance of host and vectors that integrates species’ physiological competence with their ecological traits. We apply this framework to a medically important arbovirus, Ross River virus (RRV), in Brisbane, Australia. We find that vertebrate hosts with high physiological competence are not the most important for community transmission; interactions between hosts and vectors largely underpin the importance of host species. For vectors, physiological competence is highly important. Our results identify primary and secondary vectors of RRV and suggest two potential transmission cycles in Brisbane: an enzootic cycle involving birds and an urban cycle involving humans. The framework accounts for uncertainty from each fitted statistical model in estimates of species’ contributions to transmission and has has direct application to other zoonotic pathogens.

【 授权许可】

CC BY