Using "outbreak science" to strengthen the use of models during epidemics

Caitlin Rivers; Jean-Paul Chretien; Steven Riley; Julie A Pavlin; Alexandra Woodward; David Brett-Major; Irina Maljkovic Berry; Lindsay Morton; Richard G Jarman; Matthew Biggerstaff; Michael A Johansson; Nicholas G Reich; Diane Meyer; Michael R Snyder; Simon Pollett

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-11067-2

Using "outbreak science" to strengthen the use of models during epidemics

Nat Commun. 2019 Jul 15;10(1):3102. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11067-2.

Authors

Caitlin Rivers¹, Jean-Paul Chretien², Steven Riley³, Julie A Pavlin⁴, Alexandra Woodward^{5

6}, David Brett-Major⁷, Irina Maljkovic Berry⁸, Lindsay Morton^{5

6

9}, Richard G Jarman⁸, Matthew Biggerstaff¹⁰, Michael A Johansson¹¹, Nicholas G Reich¹², Diane Meyer¹³, Michael R Snyder¹³, Simon Pollett^{7

8

14}

Affiliations

¹ Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Baltimore, MD, 21202, USA. crivers6@jhu.edu.
² Department of Defense, Fort Detrick, MD, 21702, USA.
³ MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK.
⁴ National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Washington, DC, 20006, USA.
⁵ Cherokee Nation Strategic Programs, Tulsa, OK, 74116, USA.
⁶ Global Emerging Infections Surveillance, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch, Silver Spring, MD, 20904, USA.
⁷ Department of Preventive Medicine & Biostatistics, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA.
⁸ Viral Diseases Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD, 20910, USA.
⁹ Department of Global Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20037, USA.
¹⁰ Influenza Division, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30333, USA.
¹¹ Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Atlanta, PR, USA.
¹² Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA.
¹³ Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Baltimore, MD, 21202, USA.
¹⁴ Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases & Biosecurity, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

Infectious disease modeling has played a prominent role in recent outbreaks, yet integrating these analyses into public health decision-making has been challenging. We recommend establishing ‘outbreak science’ as an inter-disciplinary field to improve applied epidemic modeling.

MeSH terms

Civil Defense
Decision Support Techniques*
Disease Outbreaks*
Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola / epidemiology
Humans
Interdisciplinary Communication
Public Health / trends

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding