title: Mapping the risk of Nipah virus spillover into human populations in South and Southeast Asia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nipah virus (NiV) is a significant emerging zoonotic pathogen given its wide geographic distribution, and the severe morbidity and high mortality that accompanies infection. Moreover, the layered landscape epidemiology surrounding spillover from reservoir host species to humans is ill-defined. Identifying landscape features that contribute to NiV spillover would likely prove helpful in preventing emergence in human populations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using an inhomogeneous Poisson model, this study investigated the role of vegetation cover, the human footprint (HFP) and reservoir Pteropus bat distribution to identify the spatial dependence of spillover and map risk across South and Southeast Asia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The spatial model identified HFP (RR=1.08; 95% CI 1.05-1.11) and bat distribution (RR=19.44; 95% CI 1.92-196.7) as significant predictors of NiV risk, while vegetation cover was not significant after accounting for HFP and the presence of Pteropus bats.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings further inform the landscape epidemiology of NiV and suggest specific conduits for spillover in the landscape. However, more detailed field studies will be required to validate these results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA thegowda@gmail.com michael.walsh@downstate.edu.
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Walsh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001210:Asia, Southeastern / Q000453:epidemiology; D001211:Asia, Western / Q000453:epidemiology; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000821:virology; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000821:virology; D017753:Ecosystem; D062305:Geographic Mapping; D045464:Henipavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D006802:Human Activities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D010944:Plants; D012307:Risk Factors; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission
keywords: Epidemiology; Landscape; Nipah virus; Pteropus; Spillover; Zoonosis