Increased Host Species Diversity and Decreased Prevalence of Sin Nombre Virus

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Emerg Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  Dizney, Laurie J. ; Ruedas, Luis A.
• Description:
  Emerging outbreaks of zoonotic diseases are affecting humans at an alarming rate. Until the ecological factors associated with zoonoses are better understood, disease emergence will continue. For Lyme disease, disease suppression has been demonstrated by a dilution effect, whereby increasing species diversity decreases disease prevalence in host populations. To test the dilution effect in another disease, we examined 17 ecological variables associated with prevalence of the directly transmitted Sin Nombre virus (genus Hantavirus, etiologic agent of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome) in its wildlife host, the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus). Only species diversity was statistically linked to infection prevalence: as species diversity decreased, infection prevalence increased. The increase was moderate, but prevalence increased exponentially at low levels of diversity, a phenomenon described as zoonotic release. The results suggest that species diversity affects disease emergence.
• Subjects:
  Animals Genetic Variation Hantavirus Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome Humans Mammals Oregon Peromyscus Prevalence Regression Analysis Research Sin Nombre Virus Species Diversity Species Specificity Viruses Zoonoses

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• Source:
  Emerg Infect Dis. 15(7):1012-1018.
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Volume:
  15
• Issue:
  7
• Collection(s):
  Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:334c3a8c541f6ca96318c538c68518c0a3179b516a8179f42007db4b02d85b7a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/17423/cdc_17423_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 568.60 KB ]