Data Sheet 1_Global distribution and multidimensional risk assessment of brucellosis in humans, livestock, and wildlife.pdf

Brucellosis is a globally distributed zoonotic disease transmitted among livestock, wildlife, and humans, posing a substantial global public health challenge. However, the global distribution of brucellosis risk and its impacts across the human–livestock–wildlife interface remain insufficiently characterized. In this study, we developed a global ecological risk assessment framework to characterize the spatial distribution of brucellosis and its major environmental and anthropogenic drivers. Using a comprehensive global database of Brucella spp. occurrence records, we applied niche modeling approaches to predict disease suitability and quantify populations and animal species potentially exposed to brucellosis risk. The model demonstrated strong predictive performance (AUC = 0.901) and identified Asia as the primary global hotspot, with additional high-risk areas located in eastern and western Africa. Population density, land cover, pasture, urban water, soil characteristics, and minimum temperature of the coldest month were identified as the major predictors shaping the global distribution of brucellosis risk. We estimated that approximately 58.3 to 61.5 million people and 1.03 to 1.22 billion livestock, including goats, sheep, cattle, and buffaloes, reside within high-risk areas. Furthermore, 5,212 mammal species showed spatial overlap with predicted brucellosis risk zones, including 214 threatened wild artiodactyl species. Several threatened species, such as Panthera tigris, Panthera pardus, Rusa unicolor, and Capricornis sumatraensis, were found to have substantial overlap with high-risk areas, suggesting potential exposure at the livestock–wildlife interface. These findings reveal the extensive ecological footprint of brucellosis across human, livestock, and wildlife populations and highlight the importance of integrating wildlife conservation into brucellosis surveillance and control programs. The resulting global risk maps provide a valuable tool for One Health-based surveillance, targeted intervention, and conservation planning.