Raccoon contact networks predict seasonal susceptibility to rabies outbreaks and limitations of vaccination

1. Infectious disease transmission often depends on the contact structure of host populations. Although it is often challenging to capture the contact structure in wild animals, new technology has enabled biologists to obtain detailed temporal information on wildlife social contacts. In this study, we investigated the effects of raccoon contact patterns on rabies spread using network modelling. 2. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) play an important role in the maintenance of rabies in the United States. It is crucial to understand how contact patterns influence the spread of rabies in raccoon populations in order to design effective control measures and to prevent transmission to human populations and other animals. 3. We constructed a dynamic system of contact networks based on empirical data from proximity logging collars on a wild suburban raccoon population and then simulated rabies spread across these networks. Our contact networks incorporated the number and duration of raccoon interaction...