Transmission Heterogeneity and Control Strategies for Infectious Disease Emergence
Background The control of emergence and spread of infectious diseases depends critically on the details of the genetic makeup of pathogens and hosts, their immunological, behavioral and ecological traits, and the pattern of temporal and spatial contacts among the age/stage-classes of susceptible and infectious host individuals. Methods and Findings We show that failing to acknowledge the existence of heterogeneities in the transmission rate among age/stage-classes can make traditional eradication and control strategies ineffective, and in some cases, policies aimed at controlling pathogen emergence can even increase disease incidence in the host. When control strategies target for reduction…
Economic modelling as a tool to support macroalgal bloom management: a case study (Sacca di Goro, Po river delta)
During the last 20, years, intensive mollusk farming has been developed in coastal waters, mostly in sheltered bays and lagoons. Often, mollusk stocks are threatened by frequent anoxic events from macroalgal blooms. Here, a decision support tool is described to select the optimal short-term strategy to control algal biomasses. Even though long-term and detailed studies of the lagoon systems are required to provide reliable, biologically based policies, we have here developed a simplified analysis that overlooks most of the ecological complexity, but explicitly includes environmental variability and uncertainty in parameter estimation in the economic assessment of the performances of differe…
The Potential Role of Direct and Indirect Contacts on Infection Spread in Dairy Farm Networks.
Animals’ exchanges are considered the most effective route of between-farm infectious disease transmission. However, despite being often overlooked, the infection spread due to contaminated equipment, vehicles, or personnel proved to be important for several livestock epidemics. This study investigated the role of indirect contacts in a potential infection spread in the dairy farm network of the Province of Parma (Northern Italy). We built between-farm contact networks using data on cattle exchange (direct contacts), and on-farm visits by veterinarians (indirect contacts). We compared the features of the contact structures by using measures on static and temporal networks. We assessed the d…
Fishery-induced selection for slow somatic growth in European eel
International audience; Both theoretical and experimental studies have shown that fishing mortality can induce adaptive responses in body growth rates of fishes in the opposite direction of natural selection. We compared body growth rates in European eel (Anguilla anguilla) from three Mediterranean stocks subject to different fishing pressure. Results are consistent with the hypotheses that i) fast-growing individuals are more likely to survive until sexual maturity than slow-growing ones under natural conditions (no fishing) and ii) fishing can select for slow-growing individuals by removing fast-growing ones. Although the possibility of human-induced evolution seems remote for a panmictic…