Shedding-weighted network approaches for understanding tuberculosis maintenance in multihost systems using camera
Patricia Barroso1, Matthew J Silk2, Alberto Perelló3
1Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de León, León, Spain.
Summary
This study uses noninvasive camera trapping and network analysis to assess tuberculosis risk in wildlife. Incorporating pathogen shedding reveals how species interactions and infectiousness impact disease spread in complex animal communities.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Epidemiology
- Network Analysis
Background:
- Understanding multihost pathogen dynamics, like Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC), requires analyzing host interactions and species-specific infectiousness.
- Traditional network analysis for disease risk often relies on invasive methods, limiting its application in complex wildlife communities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and apply a novel, noninvasive network analysis approach integrating pathogen shedding to evaluate tuberculosis (TB) risk in the Iberian Peninsula.
- To assess how host interactions, shedding capacity, and species-specific factors influence community-level and species-specific TB risk.
Main Methods:
- Utilized noninvasive camera trapping to construct co-occurrence networks across 18 study sites.
- Developed a novel method integrating pathogen shedding into ecological networks, weighting links by co-occurrence and shedding capacity.
- Applied network centrality measures (strength-out, closeness) and population data to analyze TB risk.
Main Results:
- Community TB risk positively correlated with mean strength-out, indicating higher risk with increased interspecific contacts and infectious potential.
- Wild boar, red deer, and cattle strength-out, along with red fox and badger closeness, were associated with increased community TB risk.
- TB risk was influenced by shedding-weighted connectivity and wild boar aggregation, red deer abundance, and badger, fox, and cattle shedding-weighted centrality.
Conclusions:
- Integrating host infectiousness (shedding) into ecological network analyses is crucial for understanding multihost pathogen dynamics.
- Combining network centrality measures with population data provides a comprehensive approach to managing TB risk in diverse host communities.
- This noninvasive methodology has potential applications for managing other wildlife diseases and multihost systems.
