I'm excited to share that some of my Florida panther research was recently published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science! The article, "Apathogenic proxies for transmission dynamics of a fatal virus" is freely available here. In this study, we investigated drivers of transmission of a common but non-disease causing (apathogenic) virus in endangered Florida panthers. We found that transmission of this virus between panthers was more likely when panthers were closer to each other in space, and when panthers were adults (rather than subadults). Importantly, we also found that these drivers of transmission were relevant to predicting transmission of an analogously transmitted, deadly virus in panthers: feline leukemia virus (FeLV). FeLV cause a major outbreak in panthers in the early to mid-2000's, and still poses a threat to the panther population to this day. The results of this study help us better understand what drives close, direct transmission in panthers, and gave us a useful, adaptable framework for improving disease control in this endangered population (see another of my recent articles here). Huge thanks to the highly interdisciplinary team that made this research possible: our group included virologists, wildlife managers, veterinarians, pathologists, disease ecologists, and quantitative ecologists.
|
Archives
September 2023
Categories |