Jacqueline Benschop

Citation

Thesis Title
Epidemiological investigations of surveillance strategies for zoonotic salmonella

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Ms Benschop applied recently developed epidemiological and statistical tools to inform the optimisation of a national surveillance strategy of considerable importance to human health. Using spatial, temporal and risk factor analysis on data from the Danish swine Salmonella surveillance and control programme she found that infection in pig farms is multifactorial. Farm location, including proximity to other infected farms, and herd management factors, including both measurable factors such as the type of feed used and un-measurable factors, contribute to the Salmonella burden that endangers human health. Using these results Ms Benschop developed a prediction model to identify which herds should be targeted for more intensive sampling. This model considers both risk factors for introduction of Salmonella, and those for subsequent spread once introduced within a herd. These techniques may be applied to other surveillance data helping to address the challenges health professionals face in the future for zoonotic disease surveillance.

Supervisors
Distinguished Professor Nigel French
Professor Roger Morris
Professor Mark Stevenson