Publications

The healthy herds hypothesis (HHH) suggests that predators decrease parasitism in their prey, as they tend to prey on infected individuals or susceptible populations. However, further studies have found varying impacts from predators on their prey’s parasitism. The failure of empirical testing to support the HHH is likely because this […]

The 1918 H1N1 influenza and 2020 SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks are the two largest respiratory pandemics to have occurred in the 20th and 21st centuries. In terms of mode of disease transmission, geographical overlap, and global spread, these two pandemics are quite similar and provide epidemiologists the opportunity to explore potential correlations […]

The COVID-19 pandemic remains on the forefront of public health concerns as variants of the virus continue to emerge. Variants of concern, such as the Omicron, Delta, and Alpha waves, have made controlling transmission of COVID-19 extremely difficult. Scientists have been investigating ways to prevent outbreaks of these novel variants. […]

To prevent future outbreaks of Ebolavirus from occurring, investigating which animals are hosts for this virus and most likely to contribute to disease spread is essential.  CEID’s John Paul Schmidt, Patrick Stephens and John Drake worked with a team of infectious disease scientists collecting extensive species data on Ebolavirus infection […]

A resurgence of mumps cases in countries with high rates of vaccination has raised concerns regarding the effectiveness of the vaccines currently being utilized. In countries such as the United States, immunization has been very successful in decreasing the number of mumps cases, and reduced the incidence of mumps by […]

In the field of epidemiology, “shedding” refers to the release of pathogenic material from an infected person’s body into their surrounding environment where the infection can spread to other individuals. “Supershedding” occurs when infected individuals shed a greater quantity of infectious material into an environment for a longer duration of […]

The field of disease ecology has mainly focused on host-parasite interactions as an isolated relationship, but ongoing research continues to find that predators play an important role in these interactions. In the past, predation was thought to reduce disease in populations of prey, known as the “healthy herds hypothesis”. Now, […]

Since the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic began, there has been an extreme strain on hospitals and medical professionals and many lives have been impacted. Two main intervention methods have been implemented to reduce the spread and severity of SARS-CoV-2: vaccination and non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as social distancing, quarantining, and hygienic measures.Periodic surges […]

As the world continues to become more connected through travel, technology, and infrastructure, it is becoming  easier for transmissible diseases to spread across countries rapidly. Controlling the spread of disease at the local level is highly difficult and the majority of the world is not prepared to combat outbreaks.  An […]

The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in December of 2019, was the beginning of a public health crisis. With limited information on the transmission and spatial spread of the virus at the onset of the outbreak, public health officials were faced with many difficult decisions on how to proceed.  Infectious […]