title: Fenced pasture: a possible risk factor for human alveolar echinococcosis in Tibetan pastoralist communities of Sichuan, China.
abstract: Alveolar echinococcosis, infection caused by the parasitic helminth Echinococcus multilocularis, is a zoonosis strongly linked to climatic and ecological factors. Cross-sectional survey data were used to test a hypothesis that partial fencing of pastures could promote alveolar echinococcosis transmission in semi-nomadic pastoral communities of the Tibetan plateau, PR China. Using multiple stepwise logistic regression with consideration of factors of age and gender, it was shown that partial fencing around the settlements in winter pasture was significantly and independently associated with the risk of human alveolar echinococcosis in the surveyed villages (P = 0.021). The underlying reason may lie in overgrazing, an assumed cause of population outbreaks of small mammal intermediate hosts of the parasite on the Tibetan plateau. Overgrazing may have been exacerbated by the reduction of communal pastures nearby the settlements due to introduction of partial fencing around group tenure pastures acquired by Tibetan pastoralist families.
authors.affiliation: WHO Collaborating Centre for the Prevention and Treatment of Alveolar Echinococcosis; SERF and LBE Usc INRA research units; Université de Franche-Comté; 25030-Besançon, France. wangqian67@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Dominique A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Vuitton
authors.forename: Jiamin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Giraudoux
authors.forename: Yongfu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Schantz
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Raoul
authors.forename: Tiaoying
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Philip S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Craig
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D004443:Echinococcosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000635:transmission*; D004446:Echinococcus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors