Tele-epidemiology of diarrheal diseases in muddy tropical surface waters in West Africa – MAMIWATA

Diarrheas are responsible for 1.57 million deaths. The highest health burden occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa where 85 million people, living mainly in rural areas, are using surface water for domestic uses, and where bacteria are the 2nd leading cause of diarrhea. Moreover, climate change is expected to impact water resources both in quantity and quality and to potentially boost the presence, dissemination and transmission of pathogens. MAMIWATA aims at using satellite and environmental data to estimate health hazard of bacterial origin. However, important knowledge gaps remain 1) on Escherichia coli (E. coli) dynamics in surface water, their links with hydro-meteorological determinants and their role as fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in West Africa, and 2) on the role of environment in the transmission of diarrheal disease. MAMIWATA project propose to study the environmental determinants playing a major role on bacteriological health hazard of lakes and ponds in tropical rural areas in West Africa (Burkina Faso, Niger) and to assess the potential of satellite data to monitor this health hazard of bacterial origin. Estimating E. coli and other water borne pathogens by remote sensing is challenging because it requires the investigation of several environmental determinants that play a role in the spatio-temporal dynamics of pathogens. MAMIWATA project propose to overcome these issues by combining unique collections of radiometric data, environmental determinants, E. coli measurements, potential pathogen data using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) specific to pathogens, and epidemiological data over 4 sites in Burkina Faso and Niger. MAMIWATA will 1) study the fecal contamination of surface waters and establish whether E. coli is a good FIB in tropical semi-arid waters characterized by an abundance of very fine particles; 2) investigate the “key” environmental determinants for E. coli dynamics and the links with epidemiological data (diarrheal cases); 3) design environmental monitoring methods using satellite data to monitor the bacteriological health hazard in a context of climate and land use changes.