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A Mathematical model of contact tracing during the 2014–2016 West African Ebola outbreak

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dc.contributor.author Burton, Danielle
dc.contributor.author Lenhart, Suzanne
dc.contributor.author Edholm, Christina
dc.contributor.author Levy, Benjamin
dc.contributor.author Washington, Michael
dc.contributor.author Greening, Bradford Jr.
dc.contributor.author White, Jane
dc.contributor.author Lungu, Edward
dc.contributor.author Chimbola, Obias
dc.contributor.author Kgosimore, Moatlhodi
dc.contributor.author Chirove, Faraimunashe
dc.contributor.author Ronoh, Marilyn
dc.contributor.author Machingauta, Helen
dc.date.accessioned 2021-09-11T14:36:59Z
dc.date.available 2021-09-11T14:36:59Z
dc.date.issued 2021-03-12
dc.identifier.citation Burton, D. et al.(2021) A Mathematical model of contact tracing during the 2014–2016 West African Ebola outbreak. Mathematics, 9, 608, https:// doi.org/10.3390/math9060608. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 22277390
dc.identifier.uri http://repository.biust.ac.bw/handle/123456789/341
dc.description.abstract The 2014–2016 West African outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was the largest and most deadly to date. Contact tracing, following up those who may have been infected through contact with an infected individual to prevent secondary spread, plays a vital role in controlling such outbreaks. Our aim in this work was to mechanistically represent the contact tracing process to illustrate potential areas of improvement in managing contact tracing efforts. We also explored the role contact tracing played in eventually ending the outbreak. We present a system of ordinary differential equations to model contact tracing in Sierra Leonne during the outbreak. Using data on cumulative cases and deaths, we estimate most of the parameters in our model. We include the novel features of counting the total number of people being traced and tying this directly to the number of tracers doing this work. Our work highlights the importance of incorporating changing behavior into one’s model as needed when indicated by the data and reported trends. Our results show that a larger contact tracing program would have reduced the death toll of the outbreak. Counting the total number of people being traced and including changes in behavior in our model led to better understanding of disease management. en_US
dc.description.sponsorship National Science Foundation 134651, National Science Foundation DBI-1300426, and LMS Scheme 5 grant 51710. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher MDPI AG en_US
dc.subject Ebola contact tracing en_US
dc.subject Differential equations en_US
dc.subject Parameter estimation en_US
dc.title A Mathematical model of contact tracing during the 2014–2016 West African Ebola outbreak en_US
dc.description.level phd en_US
dc.description.accessibility unrestricted en_US
dc.description.department mss en_US


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