Li Xiaolong, Chen Dehao, Liang Song, Hassen Jemal Y, McKune Sarah L, Havelaar Arie H, Blackburn Jason K
Department of Environmental and Global Health, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2024 Dec 31;112(3):506-517. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.24-0401. Print 2025 Mar 5.
Increasing attention has focused on health outcomes of Campylobacter infections among children younger than 5 years in low-resource settings. Recent evidence suggests that colonization by Campylobacter species contributes to environmental enteric dysfunction, malnutrition, and growth faltering in young children. Campylobacter species are zoonotic, and factors from humans, animals, and the environment are involved in transmission. Few studies have assessed geospatial effects of environmental factors along with human and animal factors on Campylobacter infections. Here, we leveraged Campylobacter Genomics and Environmental Enteric Dysfunction project data to model multiple socioenvironmental factors on Campylobacter burden among infants in eastern Ethiopia. Stool samples from 106 infants were collected monthly from birth through the first year of life (December 2020-June 2022). Genus-specific TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to detect and quantify Campylobacter spp. and calculate cumulative Campylobacter burden for each child as the outcome variable. Thirteen regional environmental covariates describing topography, climate, vegetation, soil, and human population density were combined with household demographics, livelihoods/wealth, livestock ownership, and child-animal interactions as explanatory variables. We dichotomized continuous outcome and explanatory variables and built logistic regression models for the first and second halves of the infant's first year of life. Infants being female, living in households with cattle, reported to have physical contact with animals, or reported to have mouthed soil or animal feces had increased odds of higher cumulative Campylobacter burden. Future interventions should focus on infant-specific transmission pathways and create adequate separation of domestic animals from humans to prevent potential fecal exposures.
在资源匮乏地区，5岁以下儿童弯曲杆菌感染的健康后果受到了越来越多的关注。最近的证据表明，弯曲杆菌属的定植会导致幼儿出现环境性肠道功能障碍、营养不良和生长发育迟缓。弯曲杆菌属是人畜共患病原体，人类、动物和环境中的因素都参与了传播过程。很少有研究评估环境因素与人类和动物因素对弯曲杆菌感染的地理空间影响。在此，我们利用弯曲杆菌基因组学与环境性肠道功能障碍项目的数据，对埃塞俄比亚东部婴儿弯曲杆菌负担的多种社会环境因素进行建模。从出生到一岁（2020年12月至2022年6月），每月收集106名婴儿的粪便样本。采用属特异性TaqMan实时聚合酶链反应检测和定量弯曲杆菌属，并将每个儿童的弯曲杆菌累积负担作为结果变量进行计算。将描述地形、气候、植被、土壤和人口密度的13个区域环境协变量与家庭人口统计学、生计/财富、牲畜所有权以及儿童与动物的互动作为解释变量相结合。我们将连续的结果变量和解释变量进行二分，并建立了婴儿出生后第一年上半年和下半年的逻辑回归模型。女性婴儿、生活在有牛的家庭、报告与动物有身体接触、或报告有舔食土壤或动物粪便行为的婴儿，累积弯曲杆菌负担较高的几率增加。未来的干预措施应侧重于针对婴儿的传播途径，并使家畜与人类充分隔离，以防止潜在的粪便暴露。
