School of Mathematical Sciences

Modelling hospital superbugs

Project description

The spread of so-called superbugs such as MRSA and other Antimicrobial Resistant pathogens within healthcare settings provides one of the major challenges to patient welfare within the UK. However, many basic questions regarding the transmission and control of such pathogens remain unanswered. This project involves stochastic modelling and data analysis using highly detailed data sets from studies carried out in hospital, addressing issues such as the effectiveness of patient isolation, the impact of different antibiotics, the way in which different strains interact with each other, and the information contained in data on high-resolution data (e.g. whole genome sequences).

 

Project published references

Worby C., O'Neill P.D, Kypraios T., Robotham J.V., De Angelis D, Cartwright E.J., Peacock S.J., Cooper B.S. Reconstructing transmission trees for communicable diseases using densely sampled genetic data. Ann Appl Stat. 2016;10(1):395-417

Worby, C., Jeyaratnam, D., Robotham, J. V., Kypraios, T., O.Neill, P. D., De Angelis, D., French, G. and Cooper, B. S. (2013) Estimating the effectiveness of isolation and decolonization measures in reducing transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in hospital general wards. American Journal of Epidemiology 177 (11), 1306-1313.

Kypraios, T., O'Neill, P. D., Huang, S. S., Rifas-Shiman, S. L. and Cooper, B. S. (2010) Assessing the role of undetected colonization and isolation precautions in reducing Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus transmission in intensive care units. BMC Infectious Diseases 10(29).

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School of Mathematical Sciences

The University of Nottingham
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Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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