Estimating Environmental Transmission Risk from Host Movement Data

Environmentally-mediated transmission is a critical pathway of disease spread, particularly for pathogens with environmental persistence. However, distinguishing which overlapping host movements result in transmission remains difficult, as most mobility models assume homogeneous exposure and overlook key spatial and behavioral factors. We extend previous models of indirect contact to account for variation in host movement behavior that could affect the probability of indirect transmission and examine these effects on transmission dynamics.