Spatial Analysis of Anthropogenic Landscape Disturbance and Buruli Ulcer Disease in Benin.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Land use and land cover (LULC) change is one anthropogenic disturbance linked to infectious disease emergence. Current research has focused largely on wildlife and vector-borne zoonotic diseases, neglecting to investigate landscape disturbance and environmental bacterial infections. One example is Buruli ulcer (BU) disease, a necrotizing skin disease caused by the environmental pathogen Mycobacterium ulcerans (MU). Empirical and anecdotal observations have linked BU incidence to landscape disturbance, but potential relationships have not been quantified as they relate to land cover configurations.

Methodology/principal findings

A landscape ecological approach utilizing Bayesian hierarchical models with spatial random effects was used to test study hypotheses that

SUBMITTER: Campbell LP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4608567 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature