Modelling the transmission of pathogens by considering environmental- and direct transmission mechanisms

Abstract

Environmental transmission of pathogens is a concern in society. With the rise of emerging diseases such as influenza type A, Ebola and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, there is a demand for understanding the transmission of these diseases in order to devise control strategies. A thorough literature study is done on the methodology used in epidemiological modelling. Models incorporating environmental transmission mechanisms from literature are analysed and a model is proposed which incorporates both direct- and environmental transmission mechanisms. An empirical case study is done on influenza type A using acquired data. It is shown that the mechanism of environmental transmission is viable in human-to-human transmission