INoDS

INoDS infers transmission parameters and evaluates the role of empirical contact networks in explaining observed infectious disease spread.

Key Features:

• Transmission Rate Estimation: Estimates the transmission rate of an infectious disease outbreak from contact network data.
• Epidemiological Relevance Assessment: Evaluates the extent to which empirical contact networks explain observed patterns of disease spread.
• Model Comparison: Compares alternative hypotheses regarding contact network structures as explanations for transmission pathways.
• Robustness to Incomplete Data: Operates when infection timings are unknown or partially recorded to account for incomplete datasets.
• Simulation-Based Validation: Has been validated through simulation experiments on synthetic contact networks across varied network dynamics and contagiousness levels.

Scientific Applications:

• Bumblebee host–pathogen studies: Applied to study Crithidia bombi transmission within bumblebee colonies.
• Wild reptile disease ecology: Applied to study Salmonella transmission among wild Australian sleepy lizard populations.
• Field epidemiology: Serves as an analytical alternative to laboratory transmission experiments for novel or emerging infectious diseases.
• Studies with incomplete timing data: Used in field studies where comprehensive infection timing information is unavailable.

Methodology:

Estimates transmission rates, assesses epidemiological relevance of contact networks, compares network-structure hypotheses, and validates performance using simulation experiments on synthetic contact networks while accounting for unknown or partially recorded infection timings.