Using serosurveys to optimize surveillance for zoonotic pathogens
Authors: Clancey E. , Nuismer S.L. , Seifert S.N. 
Published: February 2024

Zoonotic pathogens pose a significant risk to human health, with spillover into human populations contributing to chronic disease, sporadic epidemics, and occasional pandemics. Despite the widely recognized burden of zoonotic spillover, our ability to identify which animal populations serve as primary reservoirs for these pathogens remains incomplete. This challenge is compounded when prevalence reaches detectable levels only at specific times of year. In these cases, statistical models designed to predict the timing of peak prevalence could guide field sampling for active infections. Thus, we develop a general model that leverages routinely collected serosurveillance data to optimize sampling for elusive pathogens by predicting time windows of peak prevalence. Using simulated data sets, we show that our methodology reliably identifies times when pathogen prevalence is expected to peak. Then, we demonstrate an implementation of our method using publicly available data from two putativeEbolavirusreservoirs, straw-colored fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) and hammer-headed bats (Hypsignathus monstrosus). We envision our method being used to guide the planning of field sampling to maximize the probability of detecting active infections, and in cases when longitudinal data is available, our method can also yield predictions for the times of year that are most likely to produce future spillover events. The generality and simplicity of our methodology make it broadly applicable to a wide range of putative reservoir species where seasonal patterns of birth lead to predictable, but potentially short-lived, pulses of pathogen prevalence.

AUTHOR SUMMARY

Many deadly pathogens, such as Ebola, Rabies, Lassa, and Nipah viruses, originate in wildlife and jump to human populations. When this occurs, human health is at risk. At the extreme, this can lead to pandemics such as the West African Ebola epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the widely recognized risk wildlife pathogens pose to humans, identifying host species that serve as primary reservoirs for many pathogens remains challenging. A key obstacle to confirming reservoir hosts is sampling animals with active infections. Often, disease prevalence fluctuates seasonally in wildlife populations and only reaches detectable levels at certain times of year. In these cases, statistical models designed to predict the timing of peak prevalence could guide efficient field sampling for active infections. Therefore, we have developed a general model that uses serological data to predict times of year when pathogen prevalence is likely to peak. We demonstrate with simulated data that our method produces reliable predictions, and then demonstrate an application of our method on two hypothesized reservoirs for Ebola virus, straw-colored fruit bats and hammer-headed bats. Our method can be broadly applied to a range of potential reservoir species where seasonal patterns of birth can lead to predictable pulses of peak pathogen prevalence. Overall, our method can guide future sampling of reservoir populations and can also be used to make predictions for times of year for which future outbreaks in human populations are most likely to occur.