Dataset Information

Spatiotemporal analysis of bubonic plague in Pernambuco, northeast of Brazil: Case study in the municipality of Exu.

ABSTRACT: Along with other countries in America, plague reached Brazil through the sea routes during the third pandemic. A brief ports phase was followed by an urban phase that took place in smaller inland cities and finally, it attained the rural area and established several foci where the ecological conditions were suitable for its continued existence. However, the geographic dispersion of plague in Brazil is still poorly studied. To better understand the disease dynamics, we accessed satellite-based data to trace the spatial occurrence and distribution of human plague cases in Pernambuco, Northeastern Brazil and using the municipality of Exu as study case area. Along with the satellite data, a historical survey using the Plague Control Program files was applied to characterize the spatial and temporal dispersion of cases in the period of 1945-1976. Kernel density estimation, spatial and temporal clusters with statistical significance and maximum entropy modeling were used for spatial data analysis, by means of the spatial analysis software packages. The use of geostatistical tools allowed evidencing the shift of the infection from the urban to the wild-sylvatic areas and the reemergence of cases after a period of quiescence, independent of the reintroduction from other plague areas.

SUBMITTER: Fernandes DLRDS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8018616 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Spatiotemporal analysis of bubonic plague in Pernambuco, northeast of Brazil: Case study in the municipality of Exu.

Fernandes Diego Leandro Reis da Silva DLRDS Gomes Elainne Christine de Souza ECS Bezerra Matheus Filgueira MF E Guimarães Ricardo José de Paula Souza RJPS de Almeida Alzira Maria Paiva AMP

PloS one 20210402 4

Along with other countries in America, plague reached Brazil through the sea routes during the third pandemic. A brief ports phase was followed by an urban phase that took place in smaller inland cities and finally, it attained the rural area and established several foci where the ecological conditions were suitable for its continued existence. However, the geographic dispersion of plague in Brazil is still poorly studied. To better understand the disease dynamics, we accessed satellite-based da ...[more]

PMID: 33798208

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Project description:BackgroundChikungunya virus (CHIKV) continues to cause explosive epidemics in Brazil. We investigated its transmission dynamics in Salvador, Brazil, to understand the factors driving its reemergence and spread.MethodsIn this epidemiological study, we analyzed by census tracts the chikungunya cases reported in Salvador during the 2019-2020 epidemics. We used SaTScan software to identify spatiotemporal clusters and assessed how census tract characteristics (socioeconomic, environmental, and prior chikungunya occurrence) influenced chikungunya incidence through a Bayesian spatial model using Integrated Laplace Approximation (INLA).FindingsCitywide, 19,129 cases (mean age: 40.2, range: 0-112; male: 41.8%, female: 58.0%, non-binary: 0.2%) were reported between 2016 and 2020, with a significant increase in 2019 and 2020 (4549 and 13,071 cases, respectively). We found nine spatiotemporal clusters in 2019 and seven in 2020, with 17.2% (387 of 2252) overlap of census tracts between the two years. The chikungunya incidence by census tract was negatively correlated with income and vegetation but positively correlated with land surface temperature. The census tract level incidence in 2020 exhibited a non-linear correlation with the 2019 incidence; up to a certain level, the 2020 risk increased as the 2019 incidence increased, but when the 2019 incidence was extreme, the 2020 risk was reduced.InterpretationThese findings suggest that CHIKV transmission is localized, even during what appeared to be a citywide epidemic, creating high-risk pockets within the city. Socioeconomic factors, environmental conditions, and prior chikungunya incidence, probably reflecting herd immunity, all influence case incidence.FundingSecretary of Health of Salvador, Federal University of Bahia, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Foundation for Research Support of the Bahia State, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES), Clinical and Applied Research Network in Chikungunya, Global Virus Network, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Wellcome Trust, and the United States National Institutes of Health.

Project description:Activation and/or recruitment of the host plasmin, a fibrinolytic enzyme also active on extracellular matrix components, is a common invasive strategy of bacterial pathogens. Yersinia pestis, the bubonic plague agent, expresses the multifunctional surface protease Pla, which activates plasmin and inactivates fibrinolysis inhibitors. Pla is encoded by the pPla plasmid. Following intradermal inoculation, Y. pestis has the capacity to multiply in and cause destruction of the lymph node (LN) draining the entry site. The closely related, pPla-negative, Y. pseudotuberculosis species lacks this capacity. We hypothesized that tissue damage and bacterial multiplication occurring in the LN during bubonic plague were linked and both driven by pPla. Using a set of pPla-positive and pPla-negative Y. pestis and Y. pseudotuberculosis strains in a mouse model of intradermal injection, we found that pPla is not required for bacterial translocation to the LN. We also observed that a pPla-cured Y. pestis caused the same extensive histological lesions as the wild type strain. Furthermore, the Y. pseudotuberculosis histological pattern, characterized by infectious foci limited by inflammatory cell infiltrates with normal tissue density and follicular organization, was unchanged after introduction of pPla. However, the presence of pPla enabled Y. pseudotuberculosis to increase its bacterial load up to that of Y. pestis. Similarly, lack of pPla strongly reduced Y. pestis titers in LNs of infected mice. This pPla-mediated enhancing effect on bacterial load was directly dependent on the proteolytic activity of Pla. Immunohistochemistry of Pla-negative Y. pestis-infected LNs revealed extensive bacterial lysis, unlike the numerous, apparently intact, microorganisms seen in wild type Y. pestis-infected preparations. Therefore, our study demonstrates that tissue destruction and bacterial survival/multiplication are dissociated in the bubo and that the primary action of Pla is to protect bacteria from destruction rather than to alter the tissue environment to favor Y. pestis propagation in the host.

Dataset Information

Spatiotemporal analysis of bubonic plague in Pernambuco, northeast of Brazil: Case study in the municipality of Exu.

Publications

Spatiotemporal analysis of bubonic plague in Pernambuco, northeast of Brazil: Case study in the municipality of Exu.

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