title: A framework for evaluating animals as sentinels for infectious disease surveillance.
abstract: The dynamics of infectious diseases are highly variable. Host ranges, host responses to pathogens and the relationships between hosts are heterogeneous. Here, we argue that the use of animal sentinels has the potential to use this variation and enable the exploitation of a wide range of pathogen hosts for surveillance purposes. Animal sentinels may be used to address many surveillance questions, but they may currently be underused as a surveillance tool and there is a need for improved interdisciplinary collaboration and communication in order to fully explore the potential of animal sentinels. In different contexts, different animal hosts will themselves vary in their capacity to provide useful information. We describe a conceptual framework within which the characteristics of different host populations and their potential value as sentinels can be evaluated in a broad range of settings.
authors.affiliation: Wildlife and Emerging Diseases Section, R(D)SVS, University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Veterinary Centre, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK. s0454869@sms.ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jo E B
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Halliday
authors.forename: Anna L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Meredith
authors.forename: Darryn L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Knobel
authors.forename: Darren J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: Barend M de C
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Bronsvoort
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cleaveland
mesh_terms: D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D000818:Animals; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D006801:Humans; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance / Q000662:veterinary*; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*