Strategies for controlling non-transmissible infection outbreaks using a large human movement data set.

ABSTRACT: Prediction and control of the spread of infectious disease in human populations benefits greatly from our growing capacity to quantify human movement behavior. Here we develop a mathematical model for non-transmissible infections contracted from a localized environmental source, informed by a detailed description of movement patterns of the population of Great Britain. The model is applied to outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease, a potentially life-threatening form of pneumonia caused by the bacteria Legionella pneumophilia. We use case-report data from three recent outbreaks that have occurred in Great Britain where the source has already been identified by public health agencies. We first demonstrate that the amount of individual-level heterogeneity incorporated in the movement data greatl

SUBMITTER: Hancock PA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4161289 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature