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Contact patterns strongly influence the dynamics of disease transmission in both human and non-human animal populations. Domestic dogs Canis familiaris are a social species and are a reservoir for several zoonotic infections, yet few studies have empirically determined contact patterns within dog populations. Using high-resolution proximity logging technology, we characterised the contact networks of free-ranging domestic dogs from two settlements (n = 108 dogs, covering >80% of the population in each settlement) in rural Chad. We used these data to simulate the transmission of an infection comparable to rabies and investigated the effects of including observed contact heterogeneities on epidemic outcomes. We found that dog contact networks displayed considerable heterogeneity, particularly in the duration of contacts and that the network had communities that were highly correlated with household membership. Simulations using observed contact networks had smaller epidemic sizes than those that assumed random mixing, demonstrating the unsuitability of homogenous mixing models in predicting epidemic outcomes. When contact heterogeneities were included in simulations, the network position of the individual initially infected had an important effect on epidemic outcomes. The risk of an epidemic occurring was best predicted by the initially infected individual's ranked degree, while epidemic size was best predicted by the individual's ranked eigenvector centrality. For dogs in one settlement, we found that ranked eigenvector centrality was correlated with range size. Our results demonstrate that observed heterogeneities in contacts are important for the prediction of epidemiological outcomes in free-ranging domestic dogs. We show that individuals presenting a higher risk for disease transmission can be identified by their network position and provide evidence that observable traits hold potential for informing targeted disease management strategies.
Pubmed ID: 31306425
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SocioPatterns is an interdisciplinary research collaboration that adopts data-driven methodology with the aim of uncovering fundamental patterns in social dynamics and coordinated human activity. To achieve its scientific goals, the SocioPatterns collaboration also contributes to the development of new technologies for collecting relevant data. In particular, the collaboration supports the development of the SocioPatterns sensing platform, which uses wireless wearable sensors to gather longitudinal data on human mobility and face-to-face proximity in real-world environments. The SocioPatterns team also works on developing tools and techniques to represent, analyze and visualize the collected data. We increasingly use digital media and computational devices in our daily activities, and leave behind a sizable amount of digital traces while doing so. The proliferation of mobile devices, and the incorporation of various sensing technologies in these devices, will further add to this growing trail of data. The possibility to mine and analyze these data, and the scale at which this can be done on contemporary computer systems, affords a novel, data-driven approach in the investigation of various aspects of human behavior. The following collection of datasets obtained through the SocioPatterns sensing platform are available: * Infectious SocioPatterns dynamic contact networks * Hypertext 2009 dynamic contact network * Primary school cumulative networks * Infectious SocioPatterns
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