WHAT, WHERE AND WEATHER? INTEGRATING OPEN-SOURCE TAXONOMIC, SPATIAL AND CLIMATOLOGIC INFORMATION INTO A COMPREHENSIVE DATABASE OF LIVESTOCK INFECTIONS

摘要

As 6 out of every 10 human pathogens came from animals, it seems likely that many future emerging threats to human health will also come from animals. A valuable open-source evidence-based database (the ENHanCEd Infectious Diseases database - EID2) has recently been created. The EID2 automatically extracts and analyses material contained in the metadata of millions of nucleotide sequences and in publications, and using this information we can draw conclusions that a certain type of pathogen infects acertain host, and is present in a certain country. Within this study, evidence from the EID2 of human pathogens and those of domestic animals was compared with that collated using non-automated techniques described previously. The results demonstrated that the information necessary for meta-analytical studies can be harnessed very efficiently using EID2 methodologies. Future work aims to expand the EID2, to build a more comprehensive list of livestock-associated and other pathogens.