Global distribution maps of the leishmaniases

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Abstract
The leishmaniases are vector-borne diseases that have a broad global distribution throughout much of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Despite representing a significant public health burden, our understanding of the global distribution of the leishmaniases remains vague, reliant upon expert opinion and limited to poor spatial resolution. A global assessment of the consensus of evidence for leishmaniasis was performed at a sub-national level by aggregating information from a variety of sources. A database of records of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis occurrence was compiled from published literature, online reports, strain archives, and GenBank accessions. These, with a suite of biologically relevant environmental covariates, were used in a boosted regression tree modelling framework to generate global environmental risk maps for the leishmaniases. These high-resolution evidence-based maps can help direct future surveillance activities, identify areas to target for disease control and inform future burden estimation efforts.
Funding Information
  • University of Oxford (Department of Zoology, Sir Richard Southwood Graduate Scholarship)
  • Wellcome Trust (095066)
  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (#OPP1053338)
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Studentship)
  • European Commission (#21803)
  • National Institutes of Health (R01LM010812)
  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (#OPP1068048)
  • Medical Research Council (#K00669X)
  • University of Oxford (Department of Zoology, Sir Richard Southwood Graduate Scholarship)
  • Wellcome Trust (095066)
  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (#OPP1053338)
  • Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Studentship)
  • European Commission (#21803)
  • National Institutes of Health (R01LM010812)
  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (#OPP1068048)
  • Medical Research Council (#K00669X)