National Centre for Zoonosis Research hosted by the University of Liverpool

ecology of natural infections in wild rodents

We have been carrying out empirical (and theoretical) studies of pathogen dynamics and the role of pathogens in the population dynamics of rodent hosts for around 10 years. Amongst other advances, this research has demonstrated subtle but important effects of an endemic pathogens, particularly cowpox, on crucial demographic parameters, and enabled us to question assumptions about the transmission dynamics of pathogens in natural populations.

The current programme of work extends the study of host-pathogen dynamics in wildlife (rodent) populations to include the simultaneous monitoring of a number of different pathogens, and to apply the methods and approaches that have been developed in woodland populations of bank voles and wood mice in the Cheshire/Merseside area to populations of field voles in Northumbria exhibiting multi-annual (3-4 year) cycles of abundance.

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