Visiting lecturer Dr. Seyed Moghadas, an Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics at York University (Canada), gave a talk on pertussis, an important respiratory infection that causes considerable infants mortality worldwide.
As incidence of pertussis have recently seen a marked rise in some developed countries, notwithstanding the presence of vaccination programs with high coverage, several explicators have been proposed: waning of immunity, reduced vaccine efficacy, higher reporting rates and newer laboratory tests, and genetic changes in the infectious pathogen B. pertussis. However, the true reason for resurgence of pertussis remains a matter of debate. Dr. Moghadas and his lab seek to understand the possible mechanisms and explain the patterns of pertussis incidence using available epidemiological and laboratory data, taking into account the type of vaccine and vaccination schedule, and genetic diversity of B. pertussis in isolates. Being at the preliminary stage of this research, he will present analysis of relevant data and discuss challenges and modelling approaches for disentangling the biological mechanisms responsible for the rise of pertussis.
The workshop was held on Wednesday, August 24th from 12-1:30.