Quantcast
Environmental Health Perspectives Free Trail Issue
Author Keyword Title Full
About EHP Publications Past Issues News By Topic Authors Subscribe Press International Inside EHP Email Alerts spacer
Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) is a monthly journal of peer-reviewed research and news on the impact of the environment on human health. EHP is published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and its content is free online. Print issues are available by paid subscription.DISCLAIMER
spacer
NIEHS
NIH
DHHS
spacer
Current Issue

EHP Science Education Website




Comparative Toxicogenomics Database (CTD)

spacer
Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 111, Number 1, January 2003 Open Access
spacer
Pathogen Survival Trajectories: An Eco-Environmental Approach to the Modeling of Human Campylobacteriosis Ecology

Chris Skelly1 and Phil Weinstein2

1Public Health Intelligence, Public Health Directorate, Ministry of Health, Wellington, New Zealand; 2Department of Public Health, Wellington School of Medicine, The University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract
Campylobacteriosis, like many human diseases, has its own ecology in which the propagation of human infection and disease depends on pathogen survival and finding new hosts in order to replicate and sustain the pathogen population. The complexity of this process, a process common to other enteric pathogens, has hampered control efforts. Many unknowns remain, resulting in a poorly understood disease ecology. To provide structure to these unknowns and help direct further research and intervention, we propose an eco-environmental modeling approach for campylobacteriosis. This modeling approach follows the pathogen population as it moves through the environments that define the physical structure of its ecology. In this paper, we term the ecologic processes and environments through which these populations move "pathogen survival trajectories." Although such a modeling approach could have veterinary applications, our emphasis is on human campylobacteriosis and focuses on human exposures to Campylobacter through feces, food, and aquatic environments. The pathogen survival trajectories that lead to human exposure include ecologic filters that limit population size, e.g., cooking food to kill Campylobacter. Environmental factors that influence the size of the pathogen reservoirs include temperature, nutrient availability, and moisture availability during the period of time the pathogen population is moving through the environment between infected and susceptible hosts. We anticipate that the modeling approach proposed here will work symbiotically with traditional epidemiologic and microbiologic research to help guide and evaluate the acquisition of new knowledge about the ecology, eventual intervention, and control of campylobacteriosis. Key words: , , , , , , , . Environ Health Perspect 111:19-28 (2003) . doi:10.1289/ehp.5312 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 7 November 2002]


The full version of this article is available for free in HTML or PDF formats.
spacer
 
Open Access Resources | Call for Papers | Career Opportunities | Buy EHP Publications | Advertising Information | Subscribe to the EHP News Feeds News Feeds | Inspector General USA.gov