Modelling to infer the role of animals in gambiense human African trypanosomiasis transmission and elimination in the DRC.

ABSTRACT: Gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (gHAT) has been targeted for elimination of transmission (EoT) to humans by 2030. Whilst this ambitious goal is rapidly approaching, there remain fundamental questions about the presence of non-human animal transmission cycles and their potential role in slowing progress towards, or even preventing, EoT. In this study we focus on the country with the most gHAT disease burden, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and use mathematical modelling to assess whether animals may contribute to transmission in specific regions, and if so, how their presence could impact the likelihood and timing of EoT. By fitting two model variants-one with, and one without animal transmission-to the human case data from 2000-2016 we estimate model parameters for 158 ende

SUBMITTER: Crump RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9302778 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature