Directly transmitted viral diseases: modeling the dynamics of transmission.
A key hurdle in understanding the spread and control of infectious diseases is to capture appropriately the dynamics of pathogen transmission. As people and goods travel increasingly rapidly around the world, so do pathogens; we must be prepared to understand their spread, in terms of the contact network between hosts, viral life history and within-host dynamics. This will require collaborative work that takes into account viral life history, strategy and evolution, and host genetics, demographics and immunodynamics. Mathematical models are a useful tool for integrating the data and analyses from diverse fields that contribute to our understanding of viral transmission dynamics in heterogeneous host populations.
Lavine
Jennie S
JS
208 Mueller Laboratory, Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16803, USA. jsl236@psu.edu
Poss
Mary
M
Grenfell
Bryan T
BT
D000818:Animals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D014780:Viruses / Q000472:pathogenicity*