Zoonotic Transmission of Waterborne Disease: A Mathematical Model

Author(s)
Waters, Edward K
Hamilton, Andrew J
Sidhu, Harvinder S
Sidhu, Leesa A
Dunbar, Michelle
Publication Date
2016-01
Abstract
Waterborne parasites that infect both humans and animals are common causes of diarrhoeal illness, but the relative importance of transmission between humans and animals and vice versa remains poorly understood. Transmission of infection from animals to humans via environmental reservoirs, such as water sources, has attracted attention as a potential source of endemic and epidemic infections, but existing mathematical models of waterborne disease transmission have limitations for studying this phenomenon, as they only consider contamination of environmental reservoirs by humans. This paper develops a mathematical model that represents the transmission of waterborne parasites within and between both animal and human populations. It also improves upon existing models by including animal contamination of water sources explicitly. Linear stability analysis and simulation results, using realistic parameter values to describe <i>Giardia</i> transmission in rural Australia, show that endemic infection of an animal host with zoonotic protozoa can result in endemic infection in human hosts, even in the absence of person-to-person transmission. These results imply that zoonotic transmission via environmental reservoirs is important.
Citation
Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 78(1), p. 169-183
ISSN
1522-9602
0092-8240
Pubmed ID
26733222
Link
Publisher
Springer New York LLC
Title
Zoonotic Transmission of Waterborne Disease: A Mathematical Model
Type of document
Journal Article
Entity Type
Publication

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