Diarrheal disease (DD) is responsible for over 700,000 child deaths annually and, in Madagascar, is the most common cause of death across all ages. Because the pathogens that cause DD are environmentally transmitted, spatial patterns in the burden of disease are thought to be strongly related to spatial patterns in […]
Summary by: Jessica Wenclawiak Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis that affects millions of people each year. Although treatments are generally successful, recurrences can occur. Some of these strains do not respond to traditional medication and increase the risk of death; these strains are known as […]
Summary by: Culzean Kennedy Transmissibility serves as one of the primary indicators of the threat posed by an emergent pathogen. The incorporation of this important function into compartmental models enables researchers interested in forecasting epidemic dynamics to estimate the size of infectious and susceptible populations. Early in an epidemic, in […]
Summary by: Jessica Wenclawiak Heartworms are common parasites that spread through mosquitoes and infect domestic dogs and coyotes. Since the early 2000’s, veterinarians have diagnosed and reported infections during annual checkups. These tests provide awealth of data on the transmission of the parasite throughout the United States. Previous research has […]
Summary by: Jessica Wenclawiak How has urbanization affected wildlife health? As cities become more common, this question has become increasingly relevant. Urban areas can interfere with a species’ range, food sources, and interactions, which impacts their health. A group of scientists that included CEID members Cecilia Sánchez and Daniel Becker […]
Summary by: Culzean Kennedy Corresponding Authors: Rebecca Borchering and Derek Cummings Emerging infectious diseases can potentially disrupt the circulation of endemic pathogens in a host population through synergistic or competitive interactions. In South America, the emergence of the Zika virus corresponded to reductions in the incidence of endemic dengue virus. […]
Summary by: Culzean Kennedy Corresponding Author: Jo Walker Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that impairs the physical and cognitive development of more than 200 million individuals globally, as a result of physiological disruptions associated with repeated infections. Intermediate snail hosts facilitate the transmission of Schistosomiasis to human and livestock populations. […]
Summary by: Jessica Wenclawiak While many parasites directly impact their host’s mortality, others cause indirect effects, including behavioral and physiological changes that make the host more susceptible to predation. Along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts, many white shrimp are currently affected by a parasitic ciliate that causes a condition […]
Many parasites complete their life cycle by first developing in an intermediate host, then reproducing in a definitive host, relying on predation of intermediate hosts by definitive hosts. Consequently, these parasites are embedded in food webs. The structure of these food webs creates a selective force; if definitive hosts are […]
The prevalence of a pathogen emerging in a population varies in a complex manner that is difficult to model and predict, due in part to randomness in the system. In a new paper in PLOS Computation Biology, we show that if the random component is relatively small, the underlying dynamics […]
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