Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Social network analysis. Review of general concepts and use in preventive veterinary medicine.
- Journal:
- Transboundary and emerging diseases
- Year:
- 2009
- Authors:
- Martínez-López, B et al.
- Affiliation:
- Animal Health Department · Spain
Plain-English summary
This paper discusses how social network analysis (SNA) and graph theory can help understand how diseases spread among animals. These methods have been used in human medicine to track infections like HIV and tuberculosis, and now they are being applied in veterinary medicine to study how animals or farms are connected and how that might affect disease transmission. The authors aim to explain the basics of SNA and its potential benefits for preventing animal diseases, as many veterinarians may not yet be familiar with these techniques. They also review recent examples of how SNA has been used in veterinary settings and talk about its advantages and limitations. Overall, the paper highlights the importance of understanding animal contact patterns to better prevent disease outbreaks.
Abstract
Social network analysis (SNA) and graph theory have been used widely in sociology, psychology, anthropology, biology and medicine. Social network analysis and graph theory provide a conceptual framework to study contact patterns and to identify units of analysis that are frequently or intensely connected within the network. Social network analysis has been used in human epidemiology as a tool to explore the potential transmission of infectious agents such as HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and syphilis. In preventive veterinary medicine, SNA is an approach that offers benefits for exploring the nature and extent of the contacts between animals or farms, which ultimately leads to a better understanding of the potential risk for disease spread in a susceptible population. Social network analysis, however, has been applied only recently in preventive veterinary medicine, therefore the characteristics of the technique and the potential benefits of its use remain unknown for an important section of the international veterinary medicine community. The objectives of this paper were to review the concepts and theoretical aspects underlying the use of SNA and graph theory, with particular emphasis on their application to the study of infectious diseases of animals. The paper includes a review of recent applications of SNA in preventive veterinary medicine and a discussion of the potential uses and limitations of this methodology for the study of animal diseases.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19341388/