Design and Analysis of Ranavirus Studies: Surveillance and Assessing Risk

Ranaviruses are pathogens that cause disease in ectothermic vertebrate species, and are responsible for die-off events in multiple taxa across the globe. Understanding the threat of ranavirus in wild and captive populations is a growing conservation and economic interest. Quantifying risk is a central premise to understanding the threat of a pathogen, and surveillance studies are a logical starting point. In this chapter, we discuss how to design surveillance studies for ranavirus, required sample sizes, statistical analyses commonly used to analyze data, and modeling approaches to predict disease outcomes. Additionally, we cover the process of Import Risk Analysis, which quantifies the threat of ranavirus introduction into a new area. The principles discussed herein will help organizations and investigators document the distribution of ranaviruses, identify hotspots of infection and disease, determine factors associated with emergence, and collect data necessary to determine practical intervention strategies.

This book chapter was published openly thanks to the University of Tennessee Open Publishing Support Fund.

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

Additionally, this book can be accessed through the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB): Ranaviruses: Lethal Pathogens of Ectothermic Vertebrates.