Résumé
Following the contemporary epidemiologic approach known as EcoHealth, the study of an epidemic risk must consider and integrate the whole set of actors, factors and environments bound to the transmission of infectious diseases. In this study, we propose using a mechanistically rich digital twin simulator as a tool to facilitate this integration with the addition of a functional and dynamic dimension. The selected case study is the monitoring of the risk associated with ticks and rodents in a rural community in the Sahelian region of Senegal. To construct the digital twin, we iteratively went back and forth between field data collection and computer transcription of knowledge. Thanks to the high resolution afforded by the digital twin approach, the simulator enables the study of city-scale activity patterns as well as interactions between ticks, rodents, cats, and humans that occur within habitation rooms and shops. In addition to (i) being able to provide dynamic integrated support for the collected multidisciplinary knowledge, the digital twin realism provides (ii) an appropriate medium for communicating results to non-expert populations and (iii) a useful tool for monitoring and adjusting the observatory's data collection protocols. The model's complexity presents calibration challenges that are discussed.