EID: How Social Organization Influences an Infectious Process: The Honey Bee Colony As a Model

本课题以蜜蜂群体为模型，旨在了解社会组织对流行病学的影响。它基于这样一种假设，即一个大群体内的社交网络是其整合的基础，也使得病原体相对容易地横扫整个群体。社会群体对流行病的高度敏感性也使社会网络的设计可能面临强大的选择压力，以进化出一种阻止病原体传播的结构。网络中可能存在降低病原体传播速度的隔离力量，或者网络可以灵活地改变其结构，作为对入侵病原体的防御反应。由于明显缺乏实验机会，目前流行病学中的大多数想法要么是理论上的，要么是基于次要数据的。蜜蜂群体具有高度复杂的社会组织和大量的宿主-寄生虫相互作用，为我们提供了一个独一无二的机会来加深我们对流行病现象的理解。这个蜂群也很容易受到实验操作的影响，这使得研究许多社会和人口变量对流行病传播的治疗效果成为可能。这些发现在为任何紧密联系的社会群体设计疾病预防和控制方法方面有着巨大的应用，例如拥挤的城市情况，特别是考虑到当前生物恐怖主义和新出现的传染病带来的挑战。

This project aims to understand the influence of social organization on epidemiology, using the honey bee colony as a model. It is based on the hypothesis that the social network within a large group, which is fundamental to its integration, also makes it relatively easy for pathogens to sweep across the entire group. Such high susceptibility of social groups to epidemics also makes it likely that the design of the social network is under strong selection pressure to evolve a structure that impedes the transmission of pathogens. There may be segregating forces within the network that reduce the velocity of pathogen transmission or the network could flexibly alter its structure as a defensive response against an invading pathogen. Most of the current ideas in epidemiology are either theoretical or based on secondary data due to an obvious lack of experimental opportunities. The honey bee colony, with its highly complex social organization and a tremendous array of host-parasite interactions, provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity to further our understanding of epidemic phenomena. This bee colony is also highly amenable to experimental manipulations making it possible to study the treatment effects of numerous social and demographic variables on the spread of an epidemic. Such findings have enormous applications in designing disease prevention and control methods for any close-knit social group such as a crowded urban situation, especially given the current challenges posed by bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases.