Accelerating river blindness elimination by supplementing MDA with a vegetation "slash and clear" vector control strategy: a data-driven modeling analysis.

ABSTRACT: Attention is increasingly focusing on how best to accelerate progress toward meeting the WHO's 2030 goals for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). For river blindness, a major NTD targeted for elimination, there is a long history of using vector control to suppress transmission, but traditional larvicide-based approaches are limited in their utility. One innovative and sustainable approach, "slash and clear", involves clearing vegetation from breeding areas, and recent field trials indicate that this technique very effectively reduces the biting density of Simulium damnosum s.s. In this study, we use a Bayesian data-driven mathematical modeling approach to investigate the potential impact of this intervention on human onchocerciasis infection. We developed a novel "slash and clear" model de

SUBMITTER: Smith ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6813336 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature