Urbanization and Habitat Characteristics Associated with the Occurrence of Peste des Petits Ruminants in Africa

Abstract

As a highly contagious viral disease, peste des petits ruminants (PPR) can cause severe socio-economic impacts in developing countries due to its threat to sheep and goat production. Previous studies have identified several risk factors for PPR at the individual or herd level. However, only a few studies explored the impacts of landscape factors on PPR risk, particularly at a regional scale. Moreover, risk factor analyses in Africa usually focused on sub-Saharan Africa while neglecting northern Africa. Based on regional occurrence data during 2006–2018, we here explored and compared the risk factors, with a focus on factors related to ruminant habitats, for the occurrence of PPR in sub-Saharan and northern Africa. Our results demonstrated different risk factors in the two regions. Specifically, habitat fragmentation was negatively correlated with PPR occurrence in sub-Saharan Africa, while positively correlated with PPR occurrence in northern Africa. Moreover, urbanization showed a positive association with PPR occurrence in sub-Saharan Africa. Our study is among the first, to our knowledge, to compare the risk factors for PPR in sub-Saharan and northern Africa and contributes to a better understanding of the effects of habitat characteristics on PPR occurrence at a regional scale.