Question

as discussed in class diseases like plague and rabies can spread in space by diffusion. Find a scientific journal article that describes a disease (NOT plague or rabies) that also seems to spread in space by diffusion (make sure to cite the study). (Note: if you cannot answer these questions with the paper you read, then find another paper)

a) What does it mean for “a disease to spread in space by diffusion”?

b) In your scientific paper, what is the disease, the host, and where is the disease spreading from and to?

c) For your selected study that described the diffusion, what was the value of the parameter, D (units are distance/time)? Even if the study does not explicitly give D, you may be able to estimate it from the information provided in the paper or from maps.

d) What are disease “sparks”? Did your paper describe any evidence of “sparks”?

e) Inevitably diffusion waves of disease become disrupted. What accounts for the disruption of the wavefront for your disease?

Answer 1

a] What does it mean for “a disease to spread in space by diffusion”?

It means how the disease gets spread to the population. it may spread by different means of diffusion.

Expansion diffusion- disease usually spreads from the central source

Relocation diffusion- Disease spreads because of spreading phenomena moving to the new area leaving the central source there itself.

Contagious diffusion- Spread of disease by the people who have direct contact with the affected ones

Hierarchal diffusion- Disease spreads from urban areas to rural areas

Network diffusion- Disease spreads through transportation routes

b] In your scientific paper, what is the disease, the host, and where is the disease spreading from and to?

Dengue is the disease, the host are the people residing near lake areas and the disease spreads from those areas to the surrounding areas.