Understanding heterogeneities in mosquito-bite exposure and infection distributions for the elimination of lymphatic filariasis
It is well known that individuals in the same community can be exposed to a highly variable number of mosquito bites. This heterogeneity in bite exposure has consequences for the control of vector-borne diseases because a few people may be contributing significantly to transmission. However, very fe...
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Published in | Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Vol. 285; no. 1871; p. 20172253 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
The Royal Society
31.01.2018
The Royal Society Publishing |
Edition | Royal Society (Great Britain) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | It is well known that individuals in the same community can be exposed to a highly variable number of mosquito bites. This heterogeneity in bite exposure has consequences for the control of vector-borne diseases because a few people may be contributing significantly to transmission. However, very few studies measure sources of heterogeneity in a way which is relevant to decision-making. We investigate the relationship between two classic measures of heterogeneity, spatial and individual, within the context of lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic mosquito-borne disease. Using infection and mosquito-bite data for five villages in Papua New Guinea, we measure biting characteristics to model what impact bed-nets have had on control of the disease. We combine this analysis with geospatial modelling to understand the spatial relationship between disease indicators and nightly mosquito bites. We found a weak association between biting and infection heterogeneity within villages. The introduction of bed-nets increased biting heterogeneity, but the reduction in mean biting more than compensated for this, by reducing prevalence closer to elimination thresholds. Nightly biting was explained by a spatial heterogeneity model, while parasite load was better explained by an individual heterogeneity model. Spatial and individual heterogeneity are qualitatively different with profoundly different policy implications. |
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Bibliography: | Electronic supplementary material is available online at https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3991533. |
ISSN: | 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
DOI: | 10.1098/rspb.2017.2253 |