Forest Disturbance and Disease: Exploring the Effects of Tree Harvesting Area on Cryptococcus gattii sensu lato Infection Risk, Vancouver Island, Canada, 1998-2014.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The disturbance of colonized trees and soil, such as through forestry activities, has been proposed to disperse soil- and tree-inhabiting fungal pathogens. Cryptococcus gattii sensu lato is one such pathogen that was detected on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, beginning in 1999 and caused human and animal illness.

Objectives

Our aim was to determine if C. gattii s.l. human case incidence on Vancouver Island was correlated with the intensity of landscape-level tree harvesting occurring near human settlement areas.

Methods

We created buffers around human settlement areas with radii increments of 2.5km, from 2.5 to 20km, and summed the area of annual tree harvests occurring within each buffer zone. We then performed Spearman rank-orde

SUBMITTER: Acheson ES 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10355116 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature