人間の論理思考の可能性を知るために、データからどの様な知見を抽出できるかを模索しています。広い意味での興味の対象は、事象の定式化や定量化とその正確性の検証です。
狭い意味での興味の対象としては、感染症流行動態をデータ解析、理論解析により解析しています。可能性の模索のためのケーススタディの収集の意味もあり、感染症であれば宿主、病原体を問わず研究対象にしています。
Background: The impact of infectious diseases on host populations is often not quantified because it is difficult to observe the host population and infectious disease dynamics. To address this problem, we developed a state-space model to simultaneously estimate host population and disease dynamics using wildlife rescue data. Using this model, we aimed to quantify the impact of sarcoptic mange on a Japanese racoon dog population by estimating the change in their relative population size.Methods: We classified the status of rescued raccoon dogs into four categories: i) rescued due to infection with mange, ii) rescued due to traffic accidents without mange, iii) rescued due to traffic accidents with mange, and iv) rescued due to causes other than traffic accidents or mange. We modelled the observation process for each categoryand fitted the model to the reported number of raccoon dogs rescued between 1990 and 2010 at three wildlife rescue facilities in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.Results: The mortality rate induced by mange was estimated to be 1.09 (95% credible interval (CI): 0.47–1.72) per year. The estimated prevalence of sarcoptic mange ranged between 4–80% in the study period. When a substantial prevalence of mange was observed (1995 to 2002), the host population size decreased by 91.2% (95% credible intervals: 86.3–94.7).Conclusion: We show that the impact of infectious disease outbreak on the wildlife population can be estimated from the time-series data of wildlife rescue events due to multiple causes. Our estimates suggest that sarcoptic mange triggered a substantial decrease in the Japanese wild raccoon dog populations.