Biomedical subjects

Christine M Budke

Publications and source records attributed to Christine M Budke.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Global socioeconomic impact of cystic echinococcosis.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is an emerging zoonotic parasitic disease throughout the world. Human incidence and livestock prevalence data of CE were gathered from published literature and the Office International des Epizooties databases. Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and monetary losses, resulting from human and livestock CE, were calculated from recorded human and livestock cases. Alternative values, assuming substantial underreporting, are also reported. When no underreporting is assumed, the estimated human burden of disease is 285,407 (95% confidence interval [CI], 218,515-366,133) DALYs or an annual loss of US $193,529,740 (95% CI, $171,567,331-$217,773,513). When underreporting is accounted for, this amount rises to 1,009,662 (95% CI, 862,119-1,175,654) DALYs or US $763,980,979 (95% CI, $676,048,731-$857,982,275). An annual livestock production loss of at least US $141,605,195 (95% CI, $101,011,553-$183,422,465) and possibly up to US $2,190,132,464 (95% CI, $1,572,373,055-$2,951,409,989) is also estimated. This initial valuation demonstrates the necessity for increased monitoring and global control of CE.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Pasture types and Echinococcus multilocularis, Tibetan communities.

Our study showed that open pastures had more small mammal burrows than fenced pastures in Tibetan pastoralist communities in 2003. This characteristic was linked to a higher prevalence of Echinococcus multilocularis in dogs and indicates that pasture type may affect E. multilocularis transmission.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Dual infection of animal hosts with different Echinococcus species in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet plateau region of China.

The eastern Qinghai-Tibet plateau of China is a highly endemic region of echinococcosis where Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto (sheep strain), Echinococcus multilocularis, and Echinococcus shiquicus are distributed sympatrically. We developed a polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method for the identification of the three species in this region. The PCR-RFLP showed the dual infection of animals with different Echinococcus spp. The first case was a domestic dog concurrently infected with adults of E. granulosus and E. multilocularis. The second case was a plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) harboring metacestodes of E. multilocularis and E. shiquicus in the liver. The high susceptibility of some mammalian hosts to the parasites and the high prevalence of the three co-endemic species probably increase the chance of mixed infections in the eastern Tibetan plateau.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Modeling the transmission of Echinococcus granulosus and Echinococcus multilocularis in dogs for a high endemic region of the Tibetan plateau.

Echinococcus granulosus and Echinococcus multilocularis abundance and prevalence data, for domestic dogs of Shiqu County, Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China, were fitted to mathematical models to evaluate transmission parameters. Abundance models, assuming the presence and absence of immunity, were fit for both E. granulosus and E. multilocularis using Bayesian priors, maximum likelihood, and Monte Carlo sampling techniques. When the models were compared, using the likelihood ratio test for nested models, the model assuming the presence of immunity was the best fit for E. granulosus infection, with a purgation based prevalence of 8% (true prevalence interval of 8-19% based on the sensitivity of purgation) and a mean abundance of 80 parasites per dog, with an average infection pressure of 560 parasites per year. In contrast, the model assuming the absence of immunity was the best fit for E. multilocularis infection, with a purgation based prevalence of 12% (true prevalence interval of 13-33% based on the sensitivity of purgation) and a mean abundance of 131 parasites per dog, with an average infection pressure of 334 or 533 parasites per year assuming a 5 or 3 month parasite life expectancy, respectively. The prevalence data for both parasites was then fit to a set of differential equations modeling the transition between infection states in order to determine number of infectious insults per year. Infection pressure was 0.21, with a 95% credibility interval of 0.12 to 0.41, infections per year for E. granulosus and 0.52, with a 95% credibility interval of 0.29-0.77, infections per year for E. multilocularis assuming a 5 month parasite lifespan or 0.85, with a 95% credibility interval of 0.47-1.25 infections per year, assuming a 3 month E. multilocularis lifespan in dogs.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

A canine purgation study and risk factor analysis for echinococcosis in a high endemic region of the Tibetan plateau.

The Tibetan plateau of western China has been shown to have a very high prevalence of human cystic echinococcosis (CE) caused by Echinococcus granulosus and human alveolar echinococcosis (AE) caused by Echinococcus multilocularis. The domestic dog is suspected to be the primary definitive host for the transmission of both E. granulosus and E. multilocularis to humans in this locality. A purgation study of 371 dogs in Shiqu County, Sichuan Province during 2002-2003 resulted in an E. multilocularis prevalence of 12% and an E. granulosus prevalence of 8%. These crude prevalences were then adjusted, based on the known sensitivity of arecoline purgation for the detection of E. granulosus and a suggested sensitivity for the detection of E. multilocularis. In addition, it was assumed that some immature parasites of either species could be misidentified morphologically and wrongly assigned. This resulted in credible true prevalence intervals of between 13-33% for E. multilocularis and 8-19% for E. granulosus. Prevalences of other intestinal helminthes found on purgation were: Taenia spp. 31%, Dipylidium caninum 1%, and ascarids 8%. Risk factors associated with the acquisition of canine echinococcosis were evaluated based on responses to a questionnaire administered to dog owners. Male dogs were more likely to be infected with Echinococcus spp. than female dogs (P<0.05) and dogs allowed to roam were more likely to be infected with E. multilocularis (P<0.05).

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Methods for assessing the burden of parasitic zoonoses: echinococcosis and cysticercosis.

Cysticercosis and echinococcosis cause illness and productivity losses in human and agricultural animal populations. Recent studies suggest that these diseases have large societal impacts on endemic areas. Estimates of burden provide essential, evidence-based data for conducting cost-benefit and cost-utility analyses that will secure political will, and financial and technical resources. To evaluate the burden, the monetary and non-monetary impacts of these zoonoses on human health, agriculture and society must be considered comprehensively. In this article, we review the framework used to assess the burden of cysticercosis and echinococcosis, and the data needed to estimate the extent of the problem for societies.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Economic effects of echinococcosis in a disease-endemic region of the Tibetan Plateau.

This report attempts to quantify the economic losses due to Echinococcus multilocularis and E. granulosus in Shiqu County, Sichuan, People's Republic of China, as well as illustrate the cost effectiveness of dog anthelmintic prophylaxis combined with a sheep and goat vaccination program in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) saved. We evaluated human losses associated with treatment costs and loss of income due to morbidity and mortality, in addition to production losses in livestock due to E. granulosus infection. Annual combined human and animal losses (95% confidence interval) is estimated to reach 218,676 U.S. dollars (189,850-247,871 U.S. dollars) if only liver-related losses in sheep, goats, and yaks are taken into account. This equates to approximately 3.47 U.S. dollars per person annually or 1.4% of per capita gross domestic product. However, total annual losses can be nearly 1,000,000 U.S. dollars if additional livestock production losses are assumed. Eventual prevention of 65-95% of annual losses due to cystic echinococcosis is suggested with proposed biannual dog anthelmintic prophylaxis and a sheep and goat vaccination program. Prevention of 9-50% of human alveolar echinococcosis-associated losses is suggested based on stochastic models for the current epidemiologic situation. The median estimated cost of the program would be approximately 56,000 U.S. dollars per year, which is a fraction of the estimated combined livestock and human financial losses due to the disease. Overall cost for the proposed control program is within the World Health Organization second most cost-effective band of less than 150 U.S. dollars per DALY averted. However, cost per DALY averted would be less than 25 U.S. dollars dollars for the human health sector if cost sharing was implemented between the public health and agricultural sectors based on proportional benefit from control.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Use of disability adjusted life years in the estimation of the disease burden of echinococcosis for a high endemic region of the Tibetan plateau.

Shiqu County, located on the Tibetan plateau of western China, has an extremely high prevalence of both human alveolar echinococcosis (AE), and cystic echinococcosis (CE). The short form 12 version 2 quality of life survey, which was used to evaluate the extent to which morbidity associated with echinococcosis should be accounted, verified that there was a significant reduction in the mean health scores in all categories for individuals diagnosed with abdominal echinococcosis compared with an age and sex cross-matched population. Results of a larger ultrasound survey, which screened 3135 subjects, demonstrated that the prevalence rates of AE and CE were both approximately 6% with a combined prevalence rate of 11.4%. Prevalence rates adjusted for the age and sex structure of Shiqu County were 4.6% for AE and 4.9% for CE with an estimated overall adjusted prevalence rate of 9.5%. The burden of disease associated with echinococcosis was calculated using disability adjusted life years (DALYs) based on these estimated prevalence rates. Monte-Carlo techniques were used to model the uncertainty in the prevalence estimates and the disability weights. Using these methods, we estimated that the total numbers of DALYs lost due echinococcosis was 50,933 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 41,995-61,026). The DALYs lost consisted of approximately 32,978 (95% CI = 25,019-42,422) due to AE and 17,955 (95% CI = 14,268-22,128) due to CE and suggests an average of approximately 0.81 DALY lost per person. This study has clearly shown that the impact of DALYs lost due to echinococcosis, in terms of medical treatment costs, lost income, and physical and social suffering, is likely to be substantial in this highly endemic region of China.

Adolescent↗