The research of the group mainly focuses on the development of transmission models for infectious agents in livestock, in which knowledge from theoretical biology, veterinary science, animal science, mathematics and statistics are integrated. Such models are supported with data from experiments or from field studies.
These models are used for:
- predicting the course of an epidemic (example: classical swine fever (CSF) epidemic outbreak in NL in 1997)
- predicting the effects of interventions (example: CSF 1997)
- development of disease control programs (example: eradication program for Aujeszky's disease in pigs in NL)
- development of monitoring programs (example: assessing the progress of the eradication of IBR in cattle in NL)
- giving indications about the quality of the diagnostic test(s) in order to fight a disease successfully.
Emphasis in research is also given to:
- Fundamental aspects of diagnostic testing, as the quality of the diagnostics is essential for the success of a disease control program
- Identification and quantification of risk factors in order to select suitable interventions
Currently, the following PhD projects are running or pending:
- Infection dynamics and effective control strategies of tuberculosis in badgers and cattle of Ireland (Inma Aznar)
- Modelling AI virus transmission between farms: effect of biosecurity on efficacy of vaccination (Amos Ssematimba)
- Evolutionary biology of AI viruses: predicting effects of vaccination on transmission (Ioannis (Akis) Sitaris)
- MRSA infections in pigs (Els Broens)
- WSSV infections in shrimp (Ngo Xuan Tuyen)
- Fishborne zoonotic parasites in Vietnam (Annette Boerlage)
- Tuberculosis control strategies in Irish cattle (Paul White)
- Hepatitis E infections in pigs (Martijn Bouwknegt)
- Factors related to between-herd transmission of pathogens (Bram van Bunnik)
- Immuno-epidemiology of coccidiosis in poultry (Francisca Velkers)
- Dust and pathogens in livestock production (Yang Zhao)
PhD Graduates (click on the name for thesis abstract or PDF):
Francois Beaudeau (1994): Cow's health and farmer's attitude towards the culling decision in dairy herds
Annet Velthuis (2002): Quantification of Actino bacillus pleuropneumoniae transmission
Gerrit Hooijer (2003): Cystic ovarian disease in cattle
Joan Somers (2004): Claw disorders and disturbed locomotion in dairy cows: the effect of floor systems and implications for animal welfare
Juan Jose Romero (2005): Appraisal of the epidemiology of Neospora caninum infection in Costa Rican dairy cattle
Petra Geenen (2005): F4+ Escherichia coli in piglets: effect of host characteristics on population dynamics
Gustavo Monti (2005): Epidemiology, infection dynamics and effective control of bovine leukemia virus with dairy herds in Argentina: a quantitative approach
Marije Schouten (2005): Verocytotoxin producing E. coli O157 on farms: prevalences, risk factors and transmission
Liesbeth Mollema (2006): On the role of feral ruminants in the transmisison of bovine herpesvirus 1 to domestic cattle
Phaedra Eblé (2006): Efficacy of emergency vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease in pigs
Karin Orsel (2007): Foot and mouth disease virus in different host species: the effect of vaccination on transmission