Integrated mapping of establishment risk for emerging vector-borne infections: a case study of canine leishmaniasis in southwest France.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis is endemic in the Mediterranean Basin, where the dog is the main reservoir host. The disease's causative agent, Leishmania infantum, is transmitted by blood-feeding female sandflies. This paper reports an integrative study of canine leishmaniasis in a region of France spanning the southwest Massif Central and the northeast Pyrenees, where the vectors are the sandflies Phlebotomus ariasi and P. perniciosus.

Methods

Sandflies were sampled in 2005 using sticky traps placed uniformly over an area of approximately 100 by 150 km. High- and low-resolution satellite data for the area were combined to construct a model of the sandfly data, which was then used to predict sandfly abundance throughout the area on a pixel by pixel basis (resolut

SUBMITTER: Hartemink N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3153454 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature