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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
The global distribution of Bacillus anthracis and associated anthrax risk to humans, livestock and wildlife
Nature Microbiology, Volume 4, No. 8, Year 2019
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Description
Bacillus anthracis is a spore-forming, Gram-positive bacterium responsible for anthrax, an acute infection that most significantly affects grazing livestock and wild ungulates, but also poses a threat to human health. The geographic extent of B. anthracis is poorly understood, despite multi-decade research on anthrax epizootic and epidemic dynamics; many countries have limited or inadequate surveillance systems, even within known endemic regions. Here, we compile a global occurrence dataset of human, livestock and wildlife anthrax outbreaks. With these records, we use boosted regression trees to produce a map of the global distribution of B. anthracis as a proxy for anthrax risk. We estimate that 1.83 billion people (95% credible interval (CI): 0.59–4.16 billion) live within regions of anthrax risk, but most of that population faces little occupational exposure. More informatively, a global total of 63.8 million poor livestock keepers (95% CI: 17.5–168.6 million) and 1.1 billion livestock (95% CI: 0.4–2.3 billion) live within vulnerable regions. Human and livestock vulnerability are both concentrated in rural rainfed systems throughout arid and temperate land across Eurasia, Africa and North America. We conclude by mapping where anthrax risk could disrupt sensitive conservation efforts for wild ungulates that coincide with anthrax-prone landscapes. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
Authors & Co-Authors
Carlson, Colin J.
United States, College Park
National Socio-environmental Synthesis Center Sesync
United States, Washington, D.c.
Georgetown University
Kracalik, Ian T.
United States, Gainesville
University of Florida
Ross, Noam
United States, New York
Ecohealth Alliance
Alexander, Kathleen Ann
United States, Blacksburg
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Hugh-Jones, Martin E.
United States, Baton Rouge
Louisiana State University
Fegan, Mark
Australia, Melbourne
Agribio, Centre for Agribioscience
Elkin, Brett T.
Canada, Yellowknife
Government of the Northwest Territories
Zhang, Wenyi
Unknown Affiliation
Getz, Wayne Marcus
United States, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
Blackburn, Jason Kenna
United States, Gainesville
University of Florida
Statistics
Citations: 135
Authors: 10
Affiliations: 11
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/s41564-019-0435-4
ISSN:
20585276
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study