Project Profile: S&CC
Integrated risk mapping and targeted snail control to support schistosomiasis elimination in Brazil and Cote d’Ivoire under future climate change
Who?
| Principal Investigators: | Giulio De Leo, The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, United States |
| Partners: | Chelsea Wood, University of Washington, United States Roberta Lima Caldeira, Istituto Rene Rachou, Fiocruz Minas, Brazil Kamazima Lwiza, Stony Brook University, United States Susanne Sokolow, The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, United States Roseli Tuan, State Health Department, Brazil Rachel Norman, University of Stirling, United Kingdom Liu Ping, Stony Brook University, United States Adriano Pinter dos Santos, State Health Department, Brazil Andrew Brierley, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom N'GORAN Eliézer kouakou, Université Félix Houphouët Boigny, Ivory Coast |
| Sponsors: | FAPESP, Brazil NOAA, USA NSF, USA PASRES, Cote d'ivoire UKRI, United Kingdom |
What?
| Full Project Title: | Integrated risk mapping and targeted snail control to support schistosomiasis elimination in Brazil and Cote d’Ivoire under future climate change |
| Full Call Title: | CEH2019 |
| Website: |
Why?
| Project Objective: | This highly interdisciplinary, transnational team has three main goals: FIRST, we intend to investigate the effect of increasing temperatures, temperature variability and shift in precipitation patterns due to climate change on the dynamics of snail-born schistosomiasis, a debilitating parasitic disease of poverty affecting more than 200 million people worldwide. We will focus on Brazil and Cote d'Ivoire for these compelling reasons: Brazil suffers the highest schistosomiasis burden in the Americas, with an estimated 2-6 million people infected by the S.mansoni worm. Cote d'Ivoire has a high disease prevalence with an estimated 4 million people infected by S.hameatobium and S.mansoni. Projected climate change - along with growing human population, deforestation, expansion of agriculture and of marginal urban settings and the development of dams and irrigation canals known to be associated with increased schistosomiasis risk caused by habitat expansion for, and extirpation of natural predators of, the snail intermediate host - make these two countries particularly vulnerable to this parasitic disease. We will use a hybrid approach integrating species distribution models accounting for the most relevant socio-economic and environmental drivers of schistosomiasis with temperature-driven, process-based mathematical models of the parasite and its intermediate snail hosts to produce maps of present and future risk for schistosomiasis under climate change. SECOND, we intend to conduct initial feasibility and nutritional studies and market analyses of aquaculture of freshwater prawns native of Brazil and of Cote d'Ivoire with the goal of using them as novel biological control agents of schistosome's snail host while, at the same time, promoting the development of small-scale aquaculture businesses. THIRD, to track future changes in the distribution and abundance of the snail hosts, we will develop machine learning algorithms that enable computer vision as an environmental diagnosis tool for the quick and accurate identification of potential schistosome-host snails and parasites from field-acquired cellphone images, trained on thousands of images that have been identified to species by the gold standard of DNA barcoding and PCR-RFLP. |
| Call Objective: | To improve understanding of the pathways between climate, environment, and health to protect and promote human health and well-being in the face of climate challenges. Multilateral, inter- and transdisciplinary research projects will investigate where significant uncertainties exist that are barriers to action; address complex climate, ecosystem and health pathways to determine processes underlying causal links; and foster the use of scientific information and climate-related decision support tools to better inform planning and enhance resilience. |
Where?
| Regions: | Africa, Europe, North America, South America |
| Countries: | Brazil, Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire), United Kingdom, United States of America (USA) |
When?
| Duration: | 45 |
| Call Date: | 14 March 2019 |
| Project Award Date: | 10 June 2020 |
