Spores and soil from six sides: interdisciplinarity and the environmental biology of anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) |
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| Authors: | Colin J Carlson Wayne M Getz Kyrre L Kausrud Carrie A Cizauskas Jason K Blackburn Fausto A Bustos Carrillo Rita Colwell W Ryan Easterday Holly H Ganz Pauline L Kamath Ole A Økstad Wendy C Turner Anne‐Brit Kolstø Nils C Stenseth |
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| Institution: | 1. National Socio‐Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), University of Maryland, Annapolis, MD 21401, U.S.A.;2. Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, U.S.A.;3. Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, U.S.A.;4. School of Mathematical Sciences, University of KwaZulu‐Natal, PB X 54001, Durban 4000, South Africa;5. Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066 Blindern, N‐0316, Oslo, Norway;6. Spatial Epidemiology & Ecology Research Lab, Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, U.S.A.;7. Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, U.S.A.;8. Department of Epidemiology & Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720‐7360, U.S.A.;9. CosmosID Inc., Rockville, MD 20850, U.S.A.;10. Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, U.S.A.;11. Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, U.S.A.;12. UC Davis Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, U.S.A.;13. School of Food and Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, U.S.A.;14. Centre for Integrative Microbial Evolution and Section for Pharmaceutical Biosciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, PO Box 1068 Blindern, N‐0316, Oslo, Norway;15. Department of Biological Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Environmentally transmitted diseases are comparatively poorly understood and managed, and their ecology is particularly understudied. Here we identify challenges of studying environmental transmission and persistence with a six‐sided interdisciplinary review of the biology of anthrax (Bacillus anthracis). Anthrax is a zoonotic disease capable of maintaining infectious spore banks in soil for decades (or even potentially centuries), and the mechanisms of its environmental persistence have been the topic of significant research and controversy. Where anthrax is endemic, it plays an important ecological role, shaping the dynamics of entire herbivore communities. The complex eco‐epidemiology of anthrax, and the mysterious biology of Bacillus anthracis during its environmental stage, have necessitated an interdisciplinary approach to pathogen research. Here, we illustrate different disciplinary perspectives through key advances made by researchers working in Etosha National Park, a long‐term ecological research site in Namibia that has exemplified the complexities of the enzootic process of anthrax over decades of surveillance. In Etosha, the role of scavengers and alternative routes (waterborne transmission and flies) has proved unimportant relative to the long‐term persistence of anthrax spores in soil and their infection of herbivore hosts. Carcass deposition facilitates green‐ups of vegetation to attract herbivores, potentially facilitated by the role of anthrax spores in the rhizosphere. The underlying seasonal pattern of vegetation, and herbivores' immune and behavioural responses to anthrax risk, interact to produce regular ‘anthrax seasons’ that appear to be a stable feature of the Etosha ecosystem. Through the lens of microbiologists, geneticists, immunologists, ecologists, epidemiologists, and clinicians, we discuss how anthrax dynamics are shaped at the smallest scale by population genetics and interactions within the bacterial communities up to the broadest scales of ecosystem structure. We illustrate the benefits and challenges of this interdisciplinary approach to disease ecology, and suggest ways anthrax might offer insights into the biology of other important pathogens. Bacillus anthracis, and the more recently emerged Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis, share key features with other environmentally transmitted pathogens, including several zoonoses and panzootics of special interest for global health and conservation efforts. Understanding the dynamics of anthrax, and developing interdisciplinary research programs that explore environmental persistence, is a critical step forward for understanding these emerging threats. |
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| Keywords: | anthrax Bacillus anthracis Bacillus cereus Etosha National Park environmental transmission interdisciplinarity disease ecology eco‐epidemiology |
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