Modeling freshwater snail habitat suitability and areas of potential snail-borne disease transmission in Uganda
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Modeling freshwater snail habitat suitability and areas of potential snail-borne disease transmission in Uganda. / Stensgaard, Anna-Sofie; Jørgensen, Aslak; Kabatereine, N B; Rahbek, Carsten; Kristensen, Thomas K.
I: Geospatial Health, Bind 1, Nr. 1, 2006, s. 93-104.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Modeling freshwater snail habitat suitability and areas of potential snail-borne disease transmission in Uganda
AU - Stensgaard, Anna-Sofie
AU - Jørgensen, Aslak
AU - Kabatereine, N B
AU - Rahbek, Carsten
AU - Kristensen, Thomas K.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - Geographic information system (GIS-based modeling of an intermediate host snail species environmental requirements using known occurrence records can provide estimates of its spatial distribution. When other data are lacking, this can be used as a rough spatial prediction of potential snail-borne disease transmission areas. Furthermore, knowledge of abiotic factors affecting intra-molluscan parasitic development can be used to make "masks" based on remotely sensed climatic data, and these can in turn be used to refine these predictions. We used data from a recent freshwater snail survey from Uganda, environmental data and the genetic algorithm for rule-set prediction (GARP) to map the potential distribution of snail species known to act as intermediate hosts of several human and animal parasites. The results suggest that large areas of Uganda are suitable habitats for many of these snail species, indicating a large potential for disease transmission. The lack of parasitological data still makes it difficult to determine the magnitude of actual disease transmission, but the predicted snail distributions might be used as indicators of potential present and future risk areas. Some of the predicted snail distribution maps were furthermore combined with temperature masks delineating suitable temperature regimes of the parasites they host. This revealed the coinciding suitable areas for snail and parasite, but also areas suitable for host snails, but apparently not for the parasites. Assuming that the developed models correctly reflect areas suitable for transmission, the applied approach could prove useful for targeting control interventions.
AB - Geographic information system (GIS-based modeling of an intermediate host snail species environmental requirements using known occurrence records can provide estimates of its spatial distribution. When other data are lacking, this can be used as a rough spatial prediction of potential snail-borne disease transmission areas. Furthermore, knowledge of abiotic factors affecting intra-molluscan parasitic development can be used to make "masks" based on remotely sensed climatic data, and these can in turn be used to refine these predictions. We used data from a recent freshwater snail survey from Uganda, environmental data and the genetic algorithm for rule-set prediction (GARP) to map the potential distribution of snail species known to act as intermediate hosts of several human and animal parasites. The results suggest that large areas of Uganda are suitable habitats for many of these snail species, indicating a large potential for disease transmission. The lack of parasitological data still makes it difficult to determine the magnitude of actual disease transmission, but the predicted snail distributions might be used as indicators of potential present and future risk areas. Some of the predicted snail distribution maps were furthermore combined with temperature masks delineating suitable temperature regimes of the parasites they host. This revealed the coinciding suitable areas for snail and parasite, but also areas suitable for host snails, but apparently not for the parasites. Assuming that the developed models correctly reflect areas suitable for transmission, the applied approach could prove useful for targeting control interventions.
KW - Animals
KW - Disease Transmission, Infectious
KW - Disease Vectors
KW - Ecosystem
KW - Environmental Monitoring
KW - Geographic Information Systems
KW - Humans
KW - Models, Theoretical
KW - Schistosomiasis
KW - Snails
KW - Uganda
U2 - 10.4081/gh.2006.284
DO - 10.4081/gh.2006.284
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 18686235
VL - 1
SP - 93
EP - 104
JO - Geospatial health
JF - Geospatial health
SN - 1827-1987
IS - 1
ER -
ID: 122555932