Tien, Joseph

Yotebieng, Marcel

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Network Analysis of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congohttps://mershoncenter.osu.edu/research/2015-2016/network-analysis-of-ebola-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo.html[7/25/2019 1:29:49 PM]Help BuckeyeLink Map Find People Webmail  You are here:   Home  Research  2015-2016  Network Analysis of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of CongoNETWORK ANALYSIS OF EBOLA IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGOPrincipal Investigators: Marcel Yotebieng, College of Public Health, JosephTien, Department of MathematicsIn 2014, the United Nations declared Ebola a threat to international securityafter West Africa saw 23,000 cases of the virus with more than 9,000 deaths. Inorder to make policy decisions on how to handle such outbreaks, officials needan understanding of how the virus spreads.In this project, Marcel Yotebieng and Joseph Tien are creating mathematicalmodels to better understand the networks through which the Ebola virus isspread. To do this, they are analyzing an outbreak that occurred from July toOctober 2014 in the Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of Congo,causing 69 suspected cases of the virus with 49 deaths.Reconstruction of this network will allow the researchers to identify key networkfeatures such as contacts within the home, contacts between villages, andcontacts through health care centers. This analysis will allow them to constructmathematical models that can be applied to other outbreaks, informingdecisions about travel restrictions, quarantine, and vaccination campaigns.The Ebola outbreak in Equateur province included one town and six villageswith a health care center. The first case originated from eating bush meat, thenspread through a funeral for the victim, infection in the hospital, and to othervillages, where it was transmitted through homes.>By examining such variables as number of contacts between individuals, their occupation, age, and gender, travel betweencommunities, contact at mass events, and common travel to the health center, Yotebieng and Tien can create mathematicalmodels of disease transmission.Of special interest is how contact with different segments of the population changes over the course of the infection, and the roleof health care workers who have heightened contact with infected people just as the disease is most transmissible.A grant from the Mershon Center allowed Yotebieng to hire public health personnel in the DRC to collate and digitize dataregarding the outbreak of Ebola in Equateur province.This research is part of a larger study examining Ebola dynamics funded by a short-term grant from the National ScienceFoundation. Yotebieng and Tien will use the results to apply for long-term grants from NSF and National Institutes of Health.   2016-20172015-20162014-20152013-20142012-20132011-20122010-20112009-20102008-20092007-20082006-2007MERSHON CENTER About UsResearchNewsARTS AND SCIENCES College of Arts and SciencesAcademicsAbout the CollegeINTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Office of International AffairsCenter for African StudiesCenter for Latin American StudiesRESOURCES Events CalendarE-NewslettersAnnual ReportsABOUT US RESEARCH NEWS EVENTS GRANTS PEOPLE PUBLICATIONS CONTACTNetwork Analysis of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congohttps://mershoncenter.osu.edu/research/2015-2016/network-analysis-of-ebola-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo.html[7/25/2019 1:29:49 PM]EventsGrantsPeoplePublicationsContactNews and EventsResearchArts and CultureAlumniCenter for Slavic & East EuropeanStudiesEast Asian Studies CenterInstitute for Chinese StudiesInstitute for Japanese StudiesInstitute for Korean StudiesMiddle East Studies CenterFact SheetExperts ListFaculty BooksFurniss AwardKnowledge Bank © 2013 Mershon Center for International Security Studies – College of Arts and Sciences1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43201Phone: 614-292-1681 | Fax: 614-292-2407Request an alternate format of this page.   

Network Analysis of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo

https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/1811/88244/1/Mershon_Research_Yotebieng_Tien_NetworkAnalysis_2015-2016.pdf

Network Analysis of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo

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