scholarly journals Mapping the Spatial Distribution of the Rumen Fluke Calicophoron daubneyi in a Mediterranean Area

Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1122
Author(s):  
Antonio Bosco ◽  
Martina Nocerino ◽  
Mirella Santaniello ◽  
Maria Paola Maurelli ◽  
Giuseppe Cringoli ◽  
...  

Rumen flukes (Calicophoron daubneyi) represent a growing threat to the animal health, productivity and welfare of ruminants. The present study aimed to assess the spatial distribution of C. daubneyi infections in ruminants and to develop a predictive model of the environmental suitability for rumen flukes in a Mediterranean area. A cross-sectional coprological survey was conducted in 682 sheep, 73 goat and 307 cattle farms located in the Basilicata region (southern Italy). Faecal samples collected were analysed using the FLOTAC technique. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and statistical models were developed to determine environmental risk factors and to delimitate the areas at highest risk of infections in small ruminants. The results showed 7.9% (95% CI 6.05–10.27) of sheep farms, 2.7% (95% CI 0.48–10.44) of goat farms and 55.0% (95% CI 49.62–60.99) of cattle farms were infected by C. daubneyi. The areas with high predicted risk were situated in the western part of the region. The soil texture, land use and the presence of streams and brooks were the variables statistically significant (p < 0.05) in explaining the C. daubneyi distribution in the study area. The study confirms the importance of geospatial technology in supporting parasite control strategies in livestock and demonstrates that a combined use of different geostatistical techniques can improve the prediction of the C. daubneyi infection risk in ruminants.

2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Rose Dahm ◽  
Jordana Burdon Bailey ◽  
Robert F. Kelly ◽  
Patrick Chikungwa ◽  
Julius Chulu ◽  
...  

AbstractGoats are critical in mixed smallholder agricultural systems in lower and middle-income countries, while fleas are important human and animal health concerns around the world. Convenience sampling was used to describe and consider risk factors for flea infestations of peri-urban goats, with the aim of informing the iterative development of animal husbandry and management based control strategies. Seven hundred and ninety-two goats were examined in 228 households across 10 peri-urban communities surrounding Blantyre in southern Malawi. The prevalence of Ctenocephalides felis fleas was 18.3, 37.1 and 100% at the levels of individual goats, households and communities, respectively, highlighting a neglected human and animal health concern. Constant introduction of new livestock coupled to a lack of biosecurity within communities, the ubiquitous presence of dog and cat hosts for C. felis, the frequency and thoroughness of cleaning overnight goat accommodation, and goat age less than 12 months old were identified as risk factors for flea infestation. This focal cross-sectional study highlights the significance of fleas in peri-urban communities and uncovers trends and commonalities that are needed to inform sustainable disease management. The majority of the peri-urban goat keepers were female, had resided in the same community throughout their whole life and had primary level education. Advice on the planned management of fleas in livestock needs to be tailored towards this demographic group. This approach affords an opportunity to promote public health measures to address household flea infestations and zoonotic disease spread.


Author(s):  
T.M. Seeiso ◽  
C.M.E. McCrindle

Since the closure of the Lesotho abattoir in 2003, only imported meat can be legally sold. However, it was estimated in 2007 that 80 % of the meat sold at butcheries comes from informal slaughter. The aim of this study was to investigate the situation. The number and location of informal butcheries in Lesotho (n = 143) were recorded and mapped using Geographical Information Systems. Observations (photographs) of informal slaughter indicated a lack of hygiene, unskilled slaughtermen and illegal disposal of offal with possible environmental pollution. In addition, a cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine the microbiological quality of meat from randomly selected carcasses (n = 237) of cattle, sheep and pigs from a sample of 44 butcheries, 4 of which were associated with registered supermarkets. As a control, samples for microbiological assay were taken from imported meat originating from carcasses (n = 20) slaughtered at a registered abattoir in South Africa. Of the 44 butcheries investigated only the 4 commercial butcheries associated with supermarkets sold imported meat only; 3 butcheries sold meat inspected at government slaughter slabs (n = 3), while the rest (n = 37) sold both imported and informally slaughtered meat. In terms of Lesotho legislation, informally slaughtered meat is only for home consumption. The bacteriological counts from all samples showed a total bacterial plate count exceeding 30 organisms per mℓ in contrast with the controls which all showed a count less than 5 colonies per mℓ. This was found for both imported and informally slaughtered meat sold in Lesotho. In addition, meat samples from butcheries showed the presence of the potential pathogens Salmonella (n = 2), Staphylococcus aureus (n = 12) and Escherichia coli (n=15). During the study, anthrax was confirmed in 9 human patients, 5 of whom died, after consumption of informally slaughtered livestock. Although no cases of animal abuse were detected, it was considered that informal slaughter can prejudice livestock welfare. It was concluded that the current situation is not acceptable in terms of meat safety. Thus, the Veterinary Public Health Directorate of the National Veterinary Services has prioritised the monitoring of butchers, registration of slaughter slabs and a general extension campaign to improve hygiene and animal welfare standards for slaughter in Lesotho. This paper highlights the major risks associated with meat consumption without Veterinary Public Health intervention in accordance with international standards.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marwa Maweya Abdelbagi Elbasheer ◽  
Ayah Galal Abdelrahman Alkhidir ◽  
Siham Mohammed Awad Mohammed ◽  
Areej Abuelgasim Hassan Abbas ◽  
Aisha Osman Mohamed ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundBreast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among females worldwide including Sudan. The aim of this study was to determine the spatial distribution of breast cancer in Sudan.Materials and methodsA facility based cross-sectional study was implemented in eighteen histopathology laboratories distributed in the three localities of Khartoum State on a sample of 4630 Breast Cancer cases diagnosed during the period 2010-2016. A master database was developed through Epi Info™ 7.1.5.2 for computerizing the data collected: the facility name, type (public or private), and its geo- location (latitude and longitude). Personal data on patients were extracted from their respective medical records (name, age, marital status, ethnic group, State, locality, administrative unit, permanent address and phone number, histopathology diagnosis). The data was summarized through SPSS to generate frequency tables for estimating prevalence and the geographical information system (ArcGIS 10.3) was used to generate the epidemiological distribution maps. ArcGIS 10.3 spatial analysis features were used to develop risk maps based on the kriging method.ResultsBreast cancer prevalence was 3.9 cases per 100,000 female populations. Of the 4423 cases of breast cancer, invasive breast carcinoma of no special type (NST) was the most frequent (79.5%, 3517/4423) histopathological diagnosis. The spatial analysis indicated as high risk areas for breast cancer in Sudan the States of Nile River, Northern, Red Sea, White Nile, Northern and Southern Kordofan.ConclusionsThe attempt to develop a predictive map of breast cancer in Sudan revealed three levels of risk areas (risk, intermediate and high risk areas); regardless the risk level, appropriate preventive and curative health interventions with full support from decision makers are urgently needed.


Author(s):  
S. A. Pacheco ◽  
Y. M. Vaz ◽  
K. Fuchs

Bluetongue (BT) is among the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) listed diseases due to its potential for rapid spread and serious economic impact on livestock. Because of its epidemiology, in Europe, only Southern countries were affected by the disease in the past. However in the latter half of 2006, an unprecedented outbreak of bluetongue virus (BTV) serotype 8 occurred in North-Western European countries. To define potential regions that are at risk for BT epidemics it is essential to study vector distribution and abundance. This study focused on BT vector spread, mostly in Austria. The objective was to produce risk maps with the more likely areas for vector occurrence and thus to support BT prevention and control. The introductory review gives an overview of the epidemiology of the disease with a focus on the vectors, the recent outbreaks in North-Western Europe, and the importance of statistical model­ling and geographical information systems (GIS) in predicting, preventing and controlling BT.  The statistical analysis was mainly based on data from the Austrian entomological surveillance system, weather stations and topo­graphical information. A multiple linear regression model was fitted to the data to predict the occurrence of BTV vectors and subsequently to create risk maps for the whole country. Despite the fact that the limited nature of the data does not allow precise estimation, in general the models indicated that vectors occurred in preferential areas where they could be very abundant. A more detailed analysis should be carried out with a multidisciplinary team including epidemiologists, biologists, meteorologists, ento­mologists, and statisticians, so that the complexity of BT epide­miology may be better understood, and a more efficient process of prevention and control of the disease may be set up.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Okan Mert Katipoğlu

Abstract It is vital to accurately map the spatial distribution of precipitation, which is widely used in many fields such as hydrology, climatology, meteorology, ecology, and agriculture. In this study, it was aimed to reveal the spatial distribution of seasonal long-term average precipitation in the Euphrates Basin by using various interpolation methods. For this reason, Simple Kriging (SK), Ordinary Kriging (OK), Universal Kriging (UK), Ordinary CoKriging (OCK), Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK), Radial Basis Functions (Completely Regularized Spline (CRS), Thin Plate Spline (TPS), Multiquadratic, Inverse Multiquadratic (IM), Spline with Tensor (ST)), Local Polynomial Interpolation (LPI), Global Polynomial Interpolation (GPI), Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) methods have been applied in the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) environment. Long-term seasonal precipitation averages between 1966 and 2017 are presented as input for the prediction of precipitation maps. The accuracy of the precipitation prediction maps created was based on root mean square error (RMSE) values obtained from the cross-validation tests. The method of precipitation by interpolation yielding the lowest RMSE was selected as the most appropriate method. As a result of the study, OCK in spring and winter precipitation, LPI in summer precipitation, and OK in autumn precipitation were determined as the most appropriate estimation method.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mabel Carabali ◽  
Alexandra M. Schmidt ◽  
Berta N. Restrepo ◽  
Jay S. Kaufman

The spatial distribution of surveillance-reported dengue cases and severity are usually analyzed separately, assuming independence between the spatial distribution of non-severe and severe cases. Given the availability of data for the individual geo-location of surveillance-notified dengue cases, we conducted a cross-sectional study to model non-severe and severe dengue simultaneously, identifying the spatial patterns of dengue distribution, using individual and area level covariates within a hierarchical Bayesian model. Results showed that age and socioeconomic status were associated with dengue presence, and there was evidence of clustering for overall cases but not for severity. Our findings inform decision making to address the preparedness or implementation of dengue control strategies at the local level.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Machado ◽  
Trevor Farthing ◽  
Mathieu Andraud ◽  
Francisco Paulo Nunes Lopes ◽  
Cristina Lanzas

African swine fever (ASF) is considered the most impactful transboundary swine disease. In the absence of effective vaccines, control strategies are heavily dependent on mass depopulation and movement restrictions. Here we developed a nested multiscale model for the transmission of ASF, combining spatially explicit network model of animal movements with a deterministic compartmental model for the dynamics of two ASF strains within-pixels of 3 km x 3 km, amongst the pig population in one Brazilian state. The model outcomes are epidemic duration, number of secondary infected farms and pigs, and distance of ASF spread. The model also predicted the spatial distribution of ASF epidemics. We analyzed quarantine-based control interventions in the context of mortality trigger thresholds for the deployment of control strategies. The mean epidemic duration of a moderately virulent strain was 11.2 days assuming the first infection is detected (best-case scenario) and 15.9 days when detection is triggered at 10 % mortality. For a highly virulent strain, the epidemic duration was 6.5 days and 13.1 days, respectively. The distance from the source to infected locations and the spatial distribution was not dependent on strain virulence. Under the best-case scenario, we projected an average number of infected farms of 18.79 farms and 23.77 farms for the moderate and highly virulent strains, respectively. At 10% mortality-trigger, the predicted number of infected farms was on average 48.28 farms and 42.97 farms, respectively. We also demonstrated that the establishment of ring quarantine zones regardless of size (i.e., 5 km, 15 km) was outperformed by backward animal movement tracking. The proposed modeling framework provides an evaluation of ASF epidemic potential, providing a ranking of quarantine-based control strategies that could assist animal health authorities in planning the national preparedness and response plan.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Azimi ◽  
Nasser Bagheri ◽  
Mostafa Mostafavi ◽  
MaryAnne Furst ◽  
Soheil Hashtarkhani ◽  
...  

Abstract Background:Response time to cardiovascular emergency medical requests is an important indicator in reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD) related mortality. This study aims to develop an index of response time and investigate potential clusters in the pattern of CVD-related calls over time and space.Methods:This cross-sectional study was conducted in Mashhad, north-eastern Iran, between August 2017 and December 2019. An emergency medical service (EMS) response time matrix to CVD-related calls was computed using spatial and classical statistical analyses. The Anselin Local Moran's I was performed to identify potential clusters in the patterns of CVD-related calls, response time, call-to-hospital arrival time, and scene-to-hospital arrival time at small area level (neighborhood level) in Mashhad, Iran.Results:There were 84,239 CVD-related emergency request calls, of which 60.21 percent were transported to clinical centers by EMS, and 2.62 percent (a total of 2203 persons) died before EMS arrival. The number of CVD-related emergency calls increased by almost 15% in 2018 and 20% in 2019. The peak in the number of calls occurred between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m., and the lowest number of calls were recorded between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. Saturday was the busiest day of week in terms of call volume. There were statistically significant clusters in the pattern of CVD-related calls in the south-eastern region of Mashhad. Further, we found a large spatial variation in scene-to-hospital arrival time and call-to-hospital arrival time in the area under study.Conclusion:The use of geographical information systems and spatial analyses in modelling and quantifying EMS response time provides a new vein of knowledge for decision makers in emergency services management. This also enables policy makers to design tailored interventions to improve response time and reduce CVD-related mortality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Nikel Tambengi ◽  
Joyce Christian Kumaat

The need for information regarding the spatial distribution of the area of origin of students who are currently studying at the Manado State University (UNIMA) is very important because the information built can provide useful input for planning, development, or evaluation. So that the distribution of the areas of origin of students who are studying at UNIMA can be mapped properly, an information system based on Geographical Information Systems (GIS) can be built according to its geographic location. This study aims to create and present information about the spatial distribution of students from UNIMA through GIS. Quantitative type research methods with a spatial analysis approach (spatial analysis) using secondary data. Data analysis techniques through Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to create a digital map of the spatial distribution of student origin using OpenStreetMap and Quantum GIS Zanzibar 3.8.1. The results showed that the spatial distribution of the area from which UNIMA students used GIS, made it easier to present information through digital maps. The information system created can display the distribution data of the student's area of origin, namely the number of students from each province in Indonesia and especially in the form of a distribution map. The largest distribution of student origin came from North Sumatra Province with 1,209, followed by South Sulawesi Province with 893 and North Maluku Province with 650 students.


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