Evaluating empirical contact networks as potential transmission pathways for infectious diseases.

ABSTRACT: Networks are often used to incorporate heterogeneity in contact patterns in mathematical models of pathogen spread. However, few tools exist to evaluate whether potential transmission pathways in a population are adequately represented by an observed contact network. Here, we describe a novel permutation-based approach, the network k-test, to determine whether the pattern of cases within the observed contact network are likely to have resulted from transmission processes in the network, indicating that the network represents potential transmission pathways between nodes. Using simulated data of pathogen spread, we compare the power of this approach to other commonly used analytical methods. We test the robustness of this technique across common sampling constraints, including undetected ca

SUBMITTER: VanderWaal K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5014053 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature