Project description
Social contact information assists disease analysis
Funded by the European Research Council, the TransMID project focuses on developing new statistical methods to estimate key epidemiological parameters using serological and social contact data. It addresses mathematical and epidemiological challenges, including contact dynamics, behavioural variations, household contacts, parameter estimation, and survey design. TransMID has transdisciplinary applications for important diseases like pertussis, cytomegalovirus, and measles. Among its deliverables is the provision of a toolbox and software for easy application in different contexts, aiming for maximum public health impact in Europe and beyond.
Objective
TransMID focuses on the development of novel methods to estimate key epidemiological parameters from both serological and social contact data, with the aim to significantly expand the range of public health questions that can be adequately addressed using such data. Using new statistical and mathematical theory and newly collected as well as readily available serological and social contact data (mainly from Europe), fundamental mathematical and epidemiological challenges as outlined in the following work packages will be addressed: (a) frequency and density dependent mass action relating potential effective contacts to transmission dynamics in (sub)populations of different sizes with an empirical assessment using readily available contact data, (b) behavioural and temporal variations in contact patterns and their impact on the dynamics of infectious diseases, (c) close contact household networks and the assumption of homogeneous mixing within households, (d) estimating parameters from multivariate and serial cross-sectional serological data taking temporal effects and heterogeneity in acquisition into account in combination with the use of social contact data, and (e) finally the design of sero- and social contact surveys with specific focus on serial cross-sectional surveys. TransMID is transdisciplinary in nature with applications on diseases of major public health interest, such as pertussis, cytomegalovirus and measles. Translational methodology is placed at the heart of TransMID resulting in the development of a unifying methodology for other diseases and settings. The development of a toolbox and accompanying software allow easy and effective application of these fundamentally improved techniques on many infectious diseases and in different geographic contexts, which should maximize TransMID’s impact on public health in Europe and beyond.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantHost institution
3500 Hasselt
Belgium