title: Ecology and geography of human monkeypox case occurrences across Africa.
abstract: As ecologic niche modeling (ENM) evolves as a tool in spatial epidemiology and public health, selection of the most appropriate and informative environmental data sets becomes increasingly important. Here, we build on a previous ENM analysis of the potential distribution of human monkeypox in Africa by refining georeferencing criteria and using more-diverse environmental data to identify environmental parameters contributing to monkeypox distributional ecology. Significant environmental variables include annual precipitation, several temperature-related variables, primary productivity, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, and pH. The potential distribution identified with this set of variables was broader than that identified in previous analyses but does not include areas recently found to hold monkeypox in southern Sudan. Our results emphasize the importance of selecting the most appropriate and informative environmental data sets for ENM analyses in pathogen transmission mapping.
authors.affiliation: United States Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, 4101 W Laporte Ave, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521, USA.
authors.forename: Christine K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: Darin S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Carroll
authors.forename: Ryan R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Lash
authors.forename: A Townsend
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: Inger K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Damon
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Malekani
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Formenty
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000821:virology; D002980:Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008954:Models, Biological; D045908:Mpox, Monkeypox / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D008993:Monkeypox virus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity; D011634:Public Health; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D012987:Soil