Predicting disease risk areas through co-production of spatial models: The example of Kyasanur Forest Disease in India’s forest landscapes

Zoonotic diseases affect resource-poor tropical communities disproportionately, and are linked to human use and modification of ecosystems. Disentangling the socio-ecological mechanisms by which ecosystem change precipitates impacts of pathogens is critical for predicting disease risk and designing effective intervention strategies. Despite the global “One Health” initiative, predictive models for tropical zoonotic diseases often focus on narrow ranges of risk factors and are rarely scaled to intervention programs and ecosystem use. This study uses a participatory, co-production approach to address this disconnect between science, policy and implementation, by developing more informative disease models for a fatal tick-borne viral haemorrhagic disease, Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), that is spreading across degraded forest ecosystems in India. We integrated knowledge across disciplines to identify key risk factors and needs with actors and beneficiaries across the relevant policy sectors, to understand disease patterns and develop decision support tools. Human case locations (2014–2018) and spatial machine learning quantified the relative role of risk factors, including forest cover and loss, host densities and public health access, in driving landscape-scale disease patterns in a long-affected district (Shivamogga, Karnataka State). Models combining forest metrics, livestock densities and elevation accurately predicted spatial patterns in human KFD cases (2014–2018). Consistent with suggestions that KFD is an “ecotonal” disease, landscapes at higher risk for human KFD contained diverse forest-plantation mosaics with high coverage of moist evergreen forest and plantation, high indigenous cattle density, and low coverage of dry deciduous forest. Models predicted new hotspots of outbreaks in 2019, indicating their value for spatial targeting of intervention. Co-production was vital for: gathering outbreak data that reflected locations of exposure in the landscape; better understanding contextual socio-ecological risk factors; and tailoring the spatial grain and outputs to the scale of forest use, and public health interventions. We argue this inter-disciplinary approach to risk prediction is applicable across zoonotic diseases in tropical settings.
Author summary Worldwide, impacts of zoonotic diseases, that cycle between animals and people, are concentrated in tropical communities and often linked to the way people use and change ecosystems. Interventions for zoonotic diseases could be targeted better using risk maps based on computer models that integrate social and ecological risk factors across degraded ecosystems. However, such predictive models often perform poorly at local scales, incorporate narrow ranges of risk factors, and are disconnected from policy, managers and interventions. Co-production brings together stakeholders and knowledge, across the human health, animal health and environmental sectors, aligning with the OneHealth Initiative, to develop more informative predictive tools for zoonotic diseases. Through co-production, we develop predictive models for a fatal tick-borne disease, Kyasanur Forest Diseases (KFD) that is spreading across the degraded Western Ghats forest in India. These models incorporating contextual risk factors identified by stakeholders, accurately predicted patterns in human cases of KFD (2014–2018) in Shivamogga district, Karnataka State, and identified new hotspots of infection during the subsequent 2019 outbreak. Landscapes at highest risk encompassed diverse forest-plantation mosaics with high coverage of moist evergreen forest and plantation, high indigenous cattle density, and low coverage of dry deciduous forest. Co-production resulted in outbreak data that reflected where exposure occurred in the landscape and outputs of value for targeting of interventions, matched to the scale of forest use and public health interventions.