Chronic Wasting Disease: Transmission Mechanisms and the Possibility of Harvest Management.

ABSTRACT: We develop a model of CWD management by nonselective deer harvest, currently the most feasible approach available for managing CWD in wild populations. We use the model to explore the effects of 6 common harvest strategies on disease prevalence and to identify potential optimal harvest policies for reducing disease prevalence without population collapse. The model includes 4 deer categories (juveniles, adult females, younger adult males, older adult males) that may be harvested at different rates, a food-based carrying capacity, which influences juvenile survival but not adult reproduction or survival, and seasonal force of infection terms for each deer category under differing frequency-dependent transmission dynamics resulting from environmental and direct contact mechanisms. Numerical e

SUBMITTER: Potapov A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4786122 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature