Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Biological Sciences
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain an economic and social burden, non-discriminately affecting sexually active individuals worldwide. The unique transmission of STIs is dependent upon host and pathogen life histories, as well as the underlying network structure of the host population. Within a population there is a group of individuals, the core group, that maintains STI presence and helps sustain ongoing transmission both within the core group and in the surrounding population. While the presence of these core groups is well documented, the criteria for inclusion into a sexual core group is not. In this dissertation, I explore common factors that lead to core group inclusion, and discuss how approaching those criteria from a network model approach might be beneficial to public health efforts, namely in isolating core group individuals. Through a literature review of sexual network core groups, it is shown that there is a lacking consensus on how to best define a core group, even though a wide variety of factors are mentioned. I also suggest modes of attacking a network that could be used to target sexual network core groups. Subsequently, I employ those methods via a network model where nodes are isolated based on centrality measures that serve as a proxy for core group inclusion criteria. Next, I explore how the presence of a sexual core group in a network influences the appearance of a novel variant of an STI. The isolation models show some effects when targeting the core group nodes, with node betweenness being slightly more effective the node degree. The novel variant models show no difference in the appearance of the variant whether a core group is absent or present in the network. The approaches taken here illustrate the need for more informed characterization of hosts, and that incorporation of host characteristics is likely needed to more fully understand transmission dynamics.
Date
7-15-2024
Recommended Citation
Janeaux, Jason, "The Role of Sexual Network Core Groups in Disease Epidemics" (2024). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 6557.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/6557
Committee Chair
Elderd, Bret D.
Included in
Behavior and Ethology Commons, Epidemiology Commons, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons, Population Biology Commons