Michael Just, a P.h.D. candidate studying plant and microbial biology, piloted research involved mapping more than 300 disease-causing pathogens all over the world and breaking them into regions, as well organizing them by whether or not they are spread by pests.

The maps allow researchers to better track the geographical history of pathogens and how they have affected the history and culture of certain areas, which could help increase travelers’ disease preparedness and lower their risk of transmitting diseases. 

The research sought to answer the question of whether or not there were any patterns to the location of pathogens that seemed to be everywhere, according to Just.

“It seemed like a question that should have been asked before and we found it hadn’t,” Just said.  “We were looking for biogeographical patterns in common human diseases, and we found some.”

The patterns were influenced by several factors, such as environmental conditions and cultural history, Just said. 

It is a well-known fact that certain diseases, such as Ebola, are more prevalent in some areas of the world than in others, but this research has begun to answer the questions of how much the location of diseases varies and why.

The diseases studied in the research consisted of both vectored and non-vectored pathogens. A vectored pathogen is a pathogen that requires an agent to carry it in order for it to be transmitted. For example, mosquito-borne malaria would be a disease with a vectored pathogen, with the vector being the mosquito. Any disease that does not require an agent to carry and transmit it is a non-vectored pathogen, such as cholera.  

Just and his team found that the non-vectored pathogens created a distinct location pattern on the maps, but the vectored pathogens created an even more distinct pattern with clear lines on the maps.

This research is important to continue because diseases have a direct effect on the wellbeing of humans, Just said. 

Although the research in its current stage doesn’t directly affect the public, it could still lead to something later on down the line.

“We are beginning to look at these clusters and how they might compare with other human associates, such as crops,” Just said. 

The research was conducted via aggregate data on disease rates and other information provided by the Global Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Network, an infectious disease database.

“Science these days is conducted by looking at aggregate data,” said Rodger Wyatt Sanders, another author of the study.

The research began as a class about human biogeography taught by Rob Dunn, another one of the co-authors. 

There are more than 2,000 pathogens that can affect humans, and mapping these diseases allows people to learn more about them, according to an article by Dunn about his students’ research.

Just’s team consisted of other graduate students and one who was an undergraduate at the beginning of the research. Just’s paper is titled “Global biogeographic regions in a human-dominated world: the case of human diseases.”