Date/Time
Date(s) - 27/03/2024
10:30 am - 11:30 am

Location: HH 312

Speaker: Michael Li (Public Health Agency of Canada)

Title: R0 Anomaly of Canine Rabies — Exploring Disease Patterns Using Generation Time-based Intervals

Abstract: Rabies has been one of the deadliest and most frightening diseases throughout human history. In the present day, it is often neglected despite its heavy global disease burden because it is well-controlled in developed countries. Estimates of the intrinsic reproductive number (R0) from a wide range of times and locations are low (values < 2), with narrow confidence intervals. The persistence of rabies in environments that vary enormously in ecological conditions is thus surprising. We collected incidence data from many historical outbreaks and estimated the initial growth rate (r), generation intervals, and R0, opening up important insights into theoretical, biological, and epidemiological disease patterns that were neglected for canine rabies.

Dr. Michael Li is a Senior Scientist at the Public Health Agency of Canada. He uses a wide range of mathematical and statistical tools to build and analyze disease transmission models for various infectious diseases in Canada.