Samantha Schrodel
Pronouns: she/ her
Research Mentor(s): Kevin Bakker, Assistant Research Scientist
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Epidemiology, School of Public Health
Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Session: Session 4 (2pm-2:50pm)
Breakout Room: Room 8
Presenter: 4
Abstract
Paratyphoid fever is one of many bacterial infectious diseases shown to exhibit seasonal dynamics, likely influenced by environmental conditions. However, a complete understanding of the seasonal patterns and identification of environmental factors which drive disease transmission have not been fully studied. We compiled and analyzed global data from the World Health Organization spanning from 1932-1957 and provincial level Thailand data from 1980-2020. Both of these datasets report monthly clinical cases and deaths of paratyphoid that occur in the given area. We used optical character recognition software to transform the data from pdf format to a format conducive to statistical analysis with R. Based on previous studies and initial findings, it appears that paratyphoid cases spike during hot weather months which vary depending on hemisphere. Other environmental factors, such as rainfall and variation in temperature have also been shown to influence paratyphoid spread and seasonality. Understanding the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases such as paratyphoid fever is imperative for public health officials to develop comprehensive guidelines and policies. The nuances of infectious disease transmission are also important to understand to reduce the size of epidemics and prevent the inundation of healthcare systems that would stop an otherwise treatable condition from being treated.
Authors: Clare Dougherty, Samantha Schrodel, Kevin Bakker
Research Method: Data Collection and Analysis
