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K - College of Natural Resources - University of California, Berkeley

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variation is quantified from outbreak data for ten diseases <strong>of</strong> casual contact (including SARS,<br />

smallpox, plague and H5N1 avian influenza), showing conclusively that conventional models<br />

are inadequate to represent real transmission patterns. I provide the first in-depth discussion<br />

and analysis <strong>of</strong> SSEs, including an extensive review <strong>of</strong> their causes and a general, probabilistic<br />

definition that allows prediction <strong>of</strong> the proportion <strong>of</strong> cases causing SSEs for a given disease<br />

outbreak. I introduce a rigorous stochastic theory for disease invasions based on the individual<br />

reproductive number, and analyze it to demonstrate pr<strong>of</strong>ound effects <strong>of</strong> individual variation on<br />

disease emergence. The model replicates real-world patterns, such as the explosive outbreaks<br />

characteristic <strong>of</strong> SARS in 2003—a test failed by conventional models. Finally, I present theory<br />

and data on outbreak control that distinguish between population-wide and individual-specific<br />

control measures. Data from four outbreaks are more consistent with individual-specific<br />

control, which is proven to be more effective at disease containment for a given reduction in R0.<br />

I show that targeting highly-infectious individuals substantially improves the efficiency <strong>of</strong><br />

control, opening important research challenges in predicting individual infectiousness.<br />

3

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