Contact networks in a wildlife-livestock host community: identifying high-risk individuals in the transmission of bovine TB among badgers and cattle.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The management of many pathogens, which are of concern to humans and their livestock, is complicated by the pathogens' ability to cross-infect multiple host species, including wildlife. This has major implications for the management of such diseases, since the dynamics of infection are dependent on the rates of both intra- and inter-specific transmission. However, the difficulty of studying transmission networks in free-living populations means that the relative opportunities for intra- versus inter-specific disease transmission have not previously been demonstrated empirically within any wildlife-livestock disease system.

Methodology/principal findings

Using recently-developed proximity data loggers, we quantify both intra- and inter-specific contacts in a wildli

SUBMITTER: Bohm M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2660423 | biostudies-literature | 2009

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature