Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Community epidemiology framework for classifying disease threats.

Andy Fenton1, Amy B Pedersen

  • 1Institute of Zoology, London, United Kingdom. a.fenton@liverpool.ac.uk

Emerging Infectious Diseases
|February 21, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Most parasites infect multiple hosts, driving emerging infectious diseases in humans and wildlife. A new framework using transmission rates helps predict disease emergence and understand ecological factors.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Corticosterone Under Experimental Manipulation of Nutrition and Parasite Burden in a Wild Rodent System.

Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology·2026
Same author

Comparative Transcriptomics Reveals an Extracellular Worm Argonaute as an Ancestral Regulator of LTR Retrotransposons.

Genome biology and evolution·2026
Same author

Host heterogeneity and unpredictability in parasite outbreaks.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same author

Co-circulation and co-infection: parasite interactions across scales.

Trends in ecology & evolution·2026
Same author

Parasite responses to resource provisioning can be altered by within-host co-infection interactions.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2025
Same author

Costs of parasite generalism revealed by abundance patterns across mammalian hosts.

Proceedings. Biological sciences·2025

Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) in humans and wildlife are often caused by parasites with multiple host species.
  • The ecological and evolutionary drivers of parasite host shifts and subsequent disease emergence remain poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose a conceptual framework for understanding multihost-pathogen dynamics and disease emergence.
  • To define thresholds and classify disease outcomes based on transmission rates.
  • To clarify terminology and predict the impact of host shifts.

Main Methods:

  • Developed a conceptual framework based on pathogen transmission rates within and between host species.
  • Defined three dynamic thresholds to categorize four classes of disease outcomes: spillover, apparent multi-host, true multihost, and potential emerging infectious disease.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Outlined population dynamics and emergence scenarios for each class.

    • Main Results:

    • The framework categorizes multihost-pathogen systems into distinct classes based on transmission dynamics.
    • Identified key ecological factors influencing disease emergence and host shifts.
    • Provided a tool for predicting the impact of host shifts in various disease systems.

    Conclusions:

    • The proposed framework clarifies terminology and provides a predictive tool for understanding and managing emerging infectious diseases.
    • It highlights the critical role of transmission rates in shaping multihost-pathogen community dynamics.
    • Understanding these dynamics is crucial for mitigating disease threats to human and wildlife health.