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- Title
Social structure contains epidemics and regulates individual roles in disease transmission in a group‐living mammal.
- Authors
Rozins, Carly; Silk, Matthew J.; Croft, Darren P.; Delahay, Richard J.; Hodgson, Dave J.; McDonald, Robbie A.; Weber, Nicola; Boots, Mike
- Abstract
Population structure is critical to infectious disease transmission. As a result, theoretical and empirical contact network models of infectious disease spread are increasingly providing valuable insights into wildlife epidemiology. Analyzing an exceptionally detailed dataset on contact structure within a high‐density population of European badgers Meles meles, we show that a modular contact network produced by spatially structured stable social groups, lead to smaller epidemics, particularly for infections with intermediate transmissibility. The key advance is that we identify considerable variation among individuals in their role in disease spread, with these new insights made possible by the detail in the badger dataset. Furthermore, the important impacts on epidemiology are found even though the modularity of the Badger network is much lower than the threshold that previous work suggested was necessary. These findings reveal the importance of stable social group structure for disease dynamics with important management implications for socially structured populations. Through the analysis of an exceptionally detailed dataset on contact structure within a high‐density population of European badgers Meles meles, we show that a modular contact network produced by spatially structured stable social groups lead to smaller epidemics, particularly for infections with intermediate transmissibility. The key advance is that we identify considerable variation among individuals in their role in disease spread, with these new insights made possible by the detail in the badger dataset.
- Subjects
INFECTIOUS disease transmission; SOCIAL structure; WILDLIFE conservation; EPIDEMIOLOGY; BADGERS
- Publication
Ecology & Evolution (20457758), 2018, Vol 8, Issue 23, p12044
- ISSN
2045-7758
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/ece3.4664