A hierarchical network approach for modeling Rift Valley fever epidemics with applications in North America.

ABSTRACT: Rift Valley fever is a vector-borne zoonotic disease which causes high morbidity and mortality in livestock. In the event Rift Valley fever virus is introduced to the United States or other non-endemic areas, understanding the potential patterns of spread and the areas at risk based on disease vectors and hosts will be vital for developing mitigation strategies. Presented here is a general network-based mathematical model of Rift Valley fever. Given a lack of empirical data on disease vector species and their vector competence, this discrete time epidemic model uses stochastic parameters following several PERT distributions to model the dynamic interactions between hosts and likely North American mosquito vectors in dispersed geographic areas. Spatial effects and climate factors are also a

SUBMITTER: Xue L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3646918 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature