Estimating contact process saturation in sylvatic transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States.
Although it has been known for nearly a century that strains of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent for Chagas' disease, are enzootic in the southern U.S., much remains unknown about the dynamics of its transmission in the sylvatic cycles that maintain it, including the relative importance...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:90116adc98d14e8a9576306a26e3b7a3 2023-05-15T15:13:54+02:00 Estimating contact process saturation in sylvatic transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States. Christopher Kribs-Zaleta 2010-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000656 https://doaj.org/article/90116adc98d14e8a9576306a26e3b7a3 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/20436914/pdf/?tool=EBI https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000656 https://doaj.org/article/90116adc98d14e8a9576306a26e3b7a3 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 4, Iss 4, p e656 (2010) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2010 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000656 2022-12-31T09:23:19Z Although it has been known for nearly a century that strains of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent for Chagas' disease, are enzootic in the southern U.S., much remains unknown about the dynamics of its transmission in the sylvatic cycles that maintain it, including the relative importance of different transmission routes. Mathematical models can fill in gaps where field and lab data are difficult to collect, but they need as inputs the values of certain key demographic and epidemiological quantities which parametrize the models. In particular, they determine whether saturation occurs in the contact processes that communicate the infection between the two populations. Concentrating on raccoons, opossums, and woodrats as hosts in Texas and the southeastern U.S., and the vectors Triatoma sanguisuga and Triatoma gerstaeckeri, we use an exhaustive literature review to derive estimates for fundamental parameters, and use simple mathematical models to illustrate a method for estimating infection rates indirectly based on prevalence data. Results are used to draw conclusions about saturation and which population density drives each of the two contact-based infection processes (stercorarian/bloodborne and oral). Analysis suggests that the vector feeding process associated with stercorarian transmission to hosts and bloodborne transmission to vectors is limited by the population density of vectors when dealing with woodrats, but by that of hosts when dealing with raccoons and opossums, while the predation of hosts on vectors which drives oral transmission to hosts is limited by the population density of hosts. Confidence in these conclusions is limited by a severe paucity of data underlying associated parameter estimates, but the approaches developed here can also be applied to the study of other vector-borne infections. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 4 4 e656 |
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Open Polar |
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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 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Christopher Kribs-Zaleta Estimating contact process saturation in sylvatic transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Although it has been known for nearly a century that strains of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent for Chagas' disease, are enzootic in the southern U.S., much remains unknown about the dynamics of its transmission in the sylvatic cycles that maintain it, including the relative importance of different transmission routes. Mathematical models can fill in gaps where field and lab data are difficult to collect, but they need as inputs the values of certain key demographic and epidemiological quantities which parametrize the models. In particular, they determine whether saturation occurs in the contact processes that communicate the infection between the two populations. Concentrating on raccoons, opossums, and woodrats as hosts in Texas and the southeastern U.S., and the vectors Triatoma sanguisuga and Triatoma gerstaeckeri, we use an exhaustive literature review to derive estimates for fundamental parameters, and use simple mathematical models to illustrate a method for estimating infection rates indirectly based on prevalence data. Results are used to draw conclusions about saturation and which population density drives each of the two contact-based infection processes (stercorarian/bloodborne and oral). Analysis suggests that the vector feeding process associated with stercorarian transmission to hosts and bloodborne transmission to vectors is limited by the population density of vectors when dealing with woodrats, but by that of hosts when dealing with raccoons and opossums, while the predation of hosts on vectors which drives oral transmission to hosts is limited by the population density of hosts. Confidence in these conclusions is limited by a severe paucity of data underlying associated parameter estimates, but the approaches developed here can also be applied to the study of other vector-borne infections. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Christopher Kribs-Zaleta |
author_facet |
Christopher Kribs-Zaleta |
author_sort |
Christopher Kribs-Zaleta |
title |
Estimating contact process saturation in sylvatic transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States. |
title_short |
Estimating contact process saturation in sylvatic transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States. |
title_full |
Estimating contact process saturation in sylvatic transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States. |
title_fullStr |
Estimating contact process saturation in sylvatic transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Estimating contact process saturation in sylvatic transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States. |
title_sort |
estimating contact process saturation in sylvatic transmission of trypanosoma cruzi in the united states. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000656 https://doaj.org/article/90116adc98d14e8a9576306a26e3b7a3 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 4, Iss 4, p e656 (2010) |
op_relation |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/20436914/pdf/?tool=EBI https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000656 https://doaj.org/article/90116adc98d14e8a9576306a26e3b7a3 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000656 |
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PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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4 |
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e656 |
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