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Is There an Association between Dryland Salinity and Ross River Virus Disease in Southwestern Australia?

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Abstract

Land use change has the potential to cause severe ecosystem degradation and drive changes in disease transmission and emergence. Broadscale clearing of native vegetation for agriculture in southwestern Australia has resulted in severe ecosystem degradation, which has been compounded by the subsequent development of large areas of dryland salinity. The mosquito-borne disease, Ross River virus (RRV), has been noted as a potential adverse human health outcome in these salinity affected regions. The association between dryland salinity and RRV disease was therefore tested by undertaking a spatial analysis of disease notification records using standard and Bayesian techniques. To overcome inherent limitations with notification data, serological RRV antibody prevalence was also investigated. Neither method revealed a significant association with dryland salinity, however, the spatial scale imposed limited the sensitivity of both studies. Thus, further multidisciplinary studies are required to overcome these limitations and advance understanding of this ecosystem health issue, particularly using variables that can be investigated on a finer scale.

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Acknowledgments

Parts of this work were supported by the Cooperative Research Centre for the Plant Based Management of Dryland Salinity. Sarah Power provided technical support in the laboratory, and Scott Carver assisted with useful discussions regarding some of the issues presented. The Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia is acknowledged for providing the Soil-Landscape Systems Data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Population Health, M431, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009, Australia

    Andrew Jardine, Peter Speldewinde, Angus Cook & Philip Weinstein

  2. Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management, The University of Western Australia, Albany, Western Australia, 6330, Australia

    Peter Speldewinde

  3. Mosquito-Borne Disease Control Branch, WA Department of Health, Shenton Park, Western Australia, 6008, Australia

    Michael D. A. Lindsay

  4. Arbovirus Surveillance and Research Laboratory, Discipline of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009, Australia

    Cheryl A. Johansen

Authors
  1. Andrew Jardine
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  2. Peter Speldewinde
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  3. Michael D. A. Lindsay
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  4. Angus Cook
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  5. Cheryl A. Johansen
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  6. Philip Weinstein
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Correspondence to Andrew Jardine.

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Jardine, A., Speldewinde, P., Lindsay, M.D.A. et al. Is There an Association between Dryland Salinity and Ross River Virus Disease in Southwestern Australia?. EcoHealth 5, 58–68 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-007-0151-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-007-0151-z

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