Diseases that are transmitted between wildlife, livestock and people have important implications for public health, livestock husbandry, and wildlife conservation. Our understanding of the ecology of rabies, a fatal neurological disease that affects all mammals, is based almost entirely on studies from Europe and North America where rabies rarely threatens human life. Across the developing world rabies has severe consequences; thousands of people die annually, subsistence communities suffer acute impacts from domestic animal losses, the economic burden of post-exposure treatment is considerable and the disease has caused localized extinctions of endangered wildlife. The ecology of rabies will be explored by collecting high resolution spatial and temporal data during an ongoing epidemic in Tanzania; collating regional incidence records; estimating abundance, distribution, and demography of infected species and incorporating these data into a theoretical framework to evaluate the effectiveness of disease management strategies. By combining empirical and theoretical analyses, this study will contribute to the theory of infectious disease ecology. Through involvement with local community members, veterinary and medical services, government officials, conservation organizations and policy makers, this project will facilitate communication, reinforce partnerships, build scientific, veterinary and medical capacity and educate communities, contributing towards sustainable solutions for zoonotic disease control. Results will be disseminated widely to inform local and international policy and raise the profile of this underreported disease. Ultimately, this research will promote understanding of neglected aspects of infection dynamics and development of better strategies to combat rabies. This project supports the dissertation research of a female doctoral candidate.
