Epidemiological modeling of rabies transmission pathways in dog rabies endemic KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

In the fight against endemic infectious diseases – which disproportionately affect the developing world – the effective use of scarce resources is of paramount importance. For vaccine preventable diseases, vaccination campaigns should be of optimal efficiency, a goal which is dependent on effective disease surveillance as well as a thorough understanding of the disease’s spatial epidemiology. Several recent approaches show great promise in allowing us to understand the high resolution spatial aspects of epidemic disease spread following a single introduction, but do not account for the complexities inherent to endemic diseases. This thesis describes the development and use of novel techniques that can be applied to better understand endemic diseases and epidemics originating from multiple introductions, towards improved control and eventual elimination.