Carolan Kevin, Ebong Solange Meyin A, Garchitorena Andres, Landier Jordi, Sanhueza Daniel, Texier Gaëtan, Marsollier Laurent, Gall Philipe Le, Guégan Jean-François, Lo Seen Danny
Unité mixte de recherche (UMR) Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs : Écologie, Génétique, Evolution, et Contrôle (MIVEGEC) IRD-CNRS-Universities of Montpellier I and II, Centre IRD de Montpellier, BP 64501, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
Int J Health Geogr. 2014 Oct 25;13:44. doi: 10.1186/1476-072X-13-44.
The mode of transmission of the emerging neglected disease Buruli ulcer is unknown. Several potential transmission pathways have been proposed, such as amoebae, or transmission through food webs. Several lines of evidence have suggested that biting aquatic insects, Naucoridae and Belostomatidae, may act as vectors, however this proposal remains controversial.
Herein, based on sampling in Cameroon, we construct an ecological niche model of these insects to describe their spatial distribution. We predict their distribution across West Africa, describe important environmental drivers of their abundance, and examine the correlation between their abundance and Buruli ulcer prevalence in the context of the Bradford-Hill guidelines.
We find a significant positive correlation between the abundance of the insects and the prevalence of Buruli ulcer. This correlation changes in space and time, it is significant in one Camerounese study region in (Akonolinga) and not other (Bankim). We discuss notable environmental differences between these regions.
We interpret the presence of, and change in, this correlation as evidence (though not proof) that these insects may be locally important in the environmental persistence, or transmission, of Mycobacterium. ulcerans. This is consistent with the idea of M. ulcerans as a pathogen transmitted by multiple modes of infection, the importance of any one pathway changing from region to region, depending on the local environmental conditions.
新出现的被忽视疾病布鲁里溃疡的传播模式尚不清楚。已经提出了几种潜在的传播途径，如变形虫，或通过食物网传播。有几条证据表明，叮咬性水生昆虫，即仰蝽科和负子蝽科，可能是传播媒介，然而这一说法仍存在争议。
在此，基于在喀麦隆的采样，我们构建了这些昆虫的生态位模型以描述它们的空间分布。我们预测它们在西非的分布，描述其数量的重要环境驱动因素，并根据布拉德福德-希尔准则研究它们的数量与布鲁里溃疡患病率之间的相关性。
我们发现这些昆虫的数量与布鲁里溃疡的患病率之间存在显著正相关。这种相关性随时间和空间变化，在喀麦隆的一个研究区域（阿科诺林加）显著，而在另一个区域（班吉姆）不显著。我们讨论了这些区域之间显著的环境差异。
我们将这种相关性的存在和变化解释为证据（尽管不是确凿证据），表明这些昆虫可能在溃疡分枝杆菌的环境持久性或传播中具有局部重要性。这与溃疡分枝杆菌作为一种通过多种感染模式传播的病原体的观点一致，任何一种传播途径的重要性因地区而异，取决于当地的环境条件。
