Describing fine spatiotemporal dynamics of rat fleas in an insular ecosystem enlightens abiotic drivers of murine typhus incidence in humans.
Murine typhus is a flea-borne zoonotic disease that has been recently reported on Reunion Island, an oceanic volcanic island located in the Indian Ocean. Five years of survey implemented by the regional public health services have highlighted a strong temporal and spatial structure of the disease in...
Published in: | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:56f9f31f583f4047aa0ea9923b43d777 2023-05-15T15:16:15+02:00 Describing fine spatiotemporal dynamics of rat fleas in an insular ecosystem enlightens abiotic drivers of murine typhus incidence in humans. Annelise Tran Gildas Le Minter Elsa Balleydier Anaïs Etheves Morgane Laval Floriane Boucher Vanina Guernier Erwan Lagadec Patrick Mavingui Eric Cardinale Pablo Tortosa 2021-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009029 https://doaj.org/article/56f9f31f583f4047aa0ea9923b43d777 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009029 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0009029 https://doaj.org/article/56f9f31f583f4047aa0ea9923b43d777 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 15, Iss 2, p e0009029 (2021) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009029 2022-12-31T07:16:57Z Murine typhus is a flea-borne zoonotic disease that has been recently reported on Reunion Island, an oceanic volcanic island located in the Indian Ocean. Five years of survey implemented by the regional public health services have highlighted a strong temporal and spatial structure of the disease in humans, with cases mainly reported during the humid season and restricted to the dry southern and western portions of the island. We explored the environmental component of this zoonosis in an attempt to decipher the drivers of disease transmission. To do so, we used data from a previously published study (599 small mammals and 175 Xenopsylla fleas from 29 sampling sites) in order to model the spatial distribution of rat fleas throughout the island. In addition, we carried out a longitudinal sampling of rats and their ectoparasites over a 12 months period in six study sites (564 rats and 496 Xenopsylla fleas) in order to model the temporal dynamics of flea infestation of rats. Generalized Linear Models and Support Vector Machine classifiers were developed to model the Xenopsylla Genus Flea Index (GFI) from climatic and environmental variables. Results showed that the spatial distribution and the temporal dynamics of fleas, estimated through the GFI variations, are both strongly controlled by abiotic factors: rainfall, temperature and land cover. The models allowed linking flea abundance trends with murine typhus incidence rates. Flea infestation in rats peaked at the end of the dry season, corresponding to hot and dry conditions, before dropping sharply. This peak of maximal flea abundance preceded the annual peak of human murine typhus cases by a few weeks. Altogether, presented data raise novel questions regarding the ecology of rat fleas while developed models contribute to the design of control measures adapted to each micro region of the island with the aim of lowering the incidence of flea-borne diseases. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Indian PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 15 2 e0009029 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Annelise Tran Gildas Le Minter Elsa Balleydier Anaïs Etheves Morgane Laval Floriane Boucher Vanina Guernier Erwan Lagadec Patrick Mavingui Eric Cardinale Pablo Tortosa Describing fine spatiotemporal dynamics of rat fleas in an insular ecosystem enlightens abiotic drivers of murine typhus incidence in humans. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Murine typhus is a flea-borne zoonotic disease that has been recently reported on Reunion Island, an oceanic volcanic island located in the Indian Ocean. Five years of survey implemented by the regional public health services have highlighted a strong temporal and spatial structure of the disease in humans, with cases mainly reported during the humid season and restricted to the dry southern and western portions of the island. We explored the environmental component of this zoonosis in an attempt to decipher the drivers of disease transmission. To do so, we used data from a previously published study (599 small mammals and 175 Xenopsylla fleas from 29 sampling sites) in order to model the spatial distribution of rat fleas throughout the island. In addition, we carried out a longitudinal sampling of rats and their ectoparasites over a 12 months period in six study sites (564 rats and 496 Xenopsylla fleas) in order to model the temporal dynamics of flea infestation of rats. Generalized Linear Models and Support Vector Machine classifiers were developed to model the Xenopsylla Genus Flea Index (GFI) from climatic and environmental variables. Results showed that the spatial distribution and the temporal dynamics of fleas, estimated through the GFI variations, are both strongly controlled by abiotic factors: rainfall, temperature and land cover. The models allowed linking flea abundance trends with murine typhus incidence rates. Flea infestation in rats peaked at the end of the dry season, corresponding to hot and dry conditions, before dropping sharply. This peak of maximal flea abundance preceded the annual peak of human murine typhus cases by a few weeks. Altogether, presented data raise novel questions regarding the ecology of rat fleas while developed models contribute to the design of control measures adapted to each micro region of the island with the aim of lowering the incidence of flea-borne diseases. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Annelise Tran Gildas Le Minter Elsa Balleydier Anaïs Etheves Morgane Laval Floriane Boucher Vanina Guernier Erwan Lagadec Patrick Mavingui Eric Cardinale Pablo Tortosa |
author_facet |
Annelise Tran Gildas Le Minter Elsa Balleydier Anaïs Etheves Morgane Laval Floriane Boucher Vanina Guernier Erwan Lagadec Patrick Mavingui Eric Cardinale Pablo Tortosa |
author_sort |
Annelise Tran |
title |
Describing fine spatiotemporal dynamics of rat fleas in an insular ecosystem enlightens abiotic drivers of murine typhus incidence in humans. |
title_short |
Describing fine spatiotemporal dynamics of rat fleas in an insular ecosystem enlightens abiotic drivers of murine typhus incidence in humans. |
title_full |
Describing fine spatiotemporal dynamics of rat fleas in an insular ecosystem enlightens abiotic drivers of murine typhus incidence in humans. |
title_fullStr |
Describing fine spatiotemporal dynamics of rat fleas in an insular ecosystem enlightens abiotic drivers of murine typhus incidence in humans. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Describing fine spatiotemporal dynamics of rat fleas in an insular ecosystem enlightens abiotic drivers of murine typhus incidence in humans. |
title_sort |
describing fine spatiotemporal dynamics of rat fleas in an insular ecosystem enlightens abiotic drivers of murine typhus incidence in humans. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009029 https://doaj.org/article/56f9f31f583f4047aa0ea9923b43d777 |
geographic |
Arctic Indian |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Indian |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 15, Iss 2, p e0009029 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009029 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0009029 https://doaj.org/article/56f9f31f583f4047aa0ea9923b43d777 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0009029 |
container_title |
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
e0009029 |
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1766346539018485760 |