Dynamics and statistics of Leishmaniasis transmission

Visceral Leishmaniasis is a parasitic infection which kills in excess of 20000 people each year, mainly in the developing world. It involves a protozoan parasite with a complex life cycle involving a human host and a sand fly vector.
Successful transmission of the disease relies on a range of factors, and is notoriously hard to predict (Miller et al. 2015). Recent mathematical research combining stochastic processes and statistical image analysis (Doehl et al., 2017) has shown that, by characterizing parasite heterogeneity, the key mode of transmission can be identified. New data describing the dynamics of the parasite within the vector point to variability in transmission and pathology caused by nonlinear feedbacks between life stages (Serafim et al. 2018). The genetic mechanisms underpinning parasite survival are being elucidated using new time series clustering techniques (Catta-Pretta et al., in preparation).
This PhD project will synthesise these recent advances, seeking to prioritise potential treatments or vector control interventions. At its heart will be development and application of a rigorous statistical framework for disease transmission.
The University of York hosts one of the world's largest concentrations of researchers into this neglected tropical disease. The supervisory team, Pitchford and Powell, have active research links within Leishmaniasis research at the University of York, and with the main authors of the papers referred to.

Miller, E. et al. (2014). Quantifying the Contribution of Hosts with Different Parasite Concentrations to the Transmission of Visceral Leishmaniasis in Ethiopia. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 8(10), e3288.
Doehl, J., Pitchford, J. W. et al. (2017). Skin parasite landscape determines host infectiousness in visceral leishmaniasis. Nature Communications 8 (1).
Serafim, T. et al. (2018). Sequential blood meals promote Leishmania replication and reverse metacyclogenesis augmenting vector infectivity. Nature Microbiology 4 (5).
Catta-Pretta, C., Powell, B. et al. (in preparation).