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Home > Research > Vector-borne Diseases Programme

Mathematical biology of vector-borne diseases

The MB-VBD group acts as a link between the vector-borne diseases (VBD) programme and mathematical biology (MB) group. It is headed by Dr Anthony Wilson. Our research is mainly concerned with attempting to understand the risk to Europe and the UK, both now and in the future, from pathogens transmitted by insects and ticks. These include bluetongue virus (BTV), African horse sickness virus (AHSV) and African swine fever virus (ASFV). Our research involves building mathematical models of the transmission of these pathogens and using them to explore environmental effects and the effectiveness of control, as well as assessing the risk of their introduction and spread into new regions. Some current grants and recent publications are listed below.

The group collaborates with the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) and with other members of the Epizone "Network of Excellence" (Theme 7: Risk Assessment), and with the Spatial Ecology and Epidemiology Group (SEEG) at Oxford University on predicting disease and vector distribution. The group is also working with the Department of Computing at the University of Surrey to develop new computer-based resources for the international vector-borne diseases community, such as the Culicoides.NET website.

BioMedExperts page:
http://www.biomedexperts.com/Profile.bme/1925854/Anthony_Wilson

UK PubMed Central page:
http://ukmss.mimas.ac.uk/MyUKPMC/myImpact.html?uid=14620

Projects

• IAH Fellowship: Mathematical epidemiology of vector-borne veterinary diseases [PI]
• Arthropod-borne viral diseases of livestock: risk to the UK [PI]
• Development of epidemiological models for the spread and control of bluetongue virus and African horse sickness virus
• EPIZONE: Establishing the transmission dynamics of Bluetongue serotype 8 and entomological aspects in Northern Europe
• EPIZONE: Impact of environmental effects on the risk of the occurrence of epizootic diseases in Europe

Publications:

• Szmaragd et al. (2009), A modelling framework to describe the transmission of bluetongue virus within and between farms in Great Britain. PLoS ONE 4(11): e7741.[Full text]. 
• Patakakis et al. (2009), Distribution of Culicoides in Greece. Journal of Vector Ecology 34(2): 243-251. [Full text]. 
• Darpel et al. (2009), Transplacental Transmission of Bluetongue Virus 8 in Cattle, UK. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 15(12): 2025-2028. [Full text]. 
• Wilson, Darpel & Mellor (2008), Where does bluetongue virus sleep in the winter? PLoS Biology 6(8): e210. [Full text]. 

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