Understanding heterogeneities in mosquito-bite exposure and infection distributions for the elimination of lymphatic filariasis
Author(s)
Irvine, Michael A
Kazura, James W
Hollingsworth, T Deirdre
Reimer, Lisa J
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
It is well known that individuals in the same community can be exposed to a highly variable number of mosquito bites. This heterogeneity in bite exposure has consequences for the control of vector-borne diseases because a few people may be contributing significantly to transmission. However, very few studies measure sources of heterogeneity in a way which is relevant to decision-making. We investigate the relationship between two classic measures of heterogeneity, spatial and individual, within the context of lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic mosquito-borne disease. Using infection and mosquito-bite data for five villages in Papua New Guinea, we measure biting characteristics to model what impact bed-nets have had on control of the disease. We combine this analysis with geospatial modelling to understand the spatial relationship between disease indicators and nightly mosquito bites. We found a weak association between biting and infection heterogeneity within villages. The introduction of bed-nets increased biting heterogeneity, but the reduction in mean biting more than compensated for this, by reducing prevalence closer to elimination thresholds. Nightly biting was explained by a spatial heterogeneity model, while parasite load was better explained by an individual heterogeneity model. Spatial and individual heterogeneity are qualitatively different with profoundly different policy implications.
Date Issued
2018-01-31
Date Acceptance
2018-01-08
Citation
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, 2018, 285 (1871)
ISSN
0962-8452
Publisher
Royal Society
Journal / Book Title
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume
285
Issue
1871
Copyright Statement
© 2018 The Author(s). Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000423774700013&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biology
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
lymphatic filariasis
bite heterogeneity
vector control
geospatial model
spatial heterogeneity
PAPUA-NEW-GUINEA
SPATIAL HETEROGENEITY
MALARIA TRANSMISSION
WUCHERERIA-BANCROFTI
MATHEMATICAL-MODELS
DISEASE
HOST
INTERVENTIONS
SELECTION
DYNAMICS
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 20172253
Date Publish Online
2018-01-31