Despite the global economic and welfare significance of tuberculosis (TB), very little is known about how the disease is transmitted between animals. The focus of my research is to clarify the role of specific behaviours in the transmission of TB within a free-living population of wild meerkats in the Kalahari in South Africa. I aim to determine the role of intra-specific social interactions and social networks in the transmission of tuberculosis within a wild animal population. In 2005-2006, I quantified the prevalence and location of TB infection in 14 neighbouring meerkat social groups through a cross-sectional study of 150 meerkats. I have since undertaken a longitudinal study sampling a cohort of 80 meerkats in five social groups every three months over 30 months. I am using epidemiological modelling and social network analysis to demonstrate the importance of variations in levels of intra- and inter-group social interactions in explaining differences in TB transmission rates. I am using the data generated to develop a predictive model for quantifying the risk of disease transmission which is likely to have implications for TB control in other social mammal species, including badgers (Meles meles) in the UK.

I am a founder member of the Wildlife Health and Conservation Medicine Group at the University of Cambridge. I am particularly interested in diseases occurring at the wildlife-domestic animal-human interface and am a keen advocate of multidisciplinary research.

Background

I qualified from the Royal Veterinary College, London in 2001 with a healthy interest in exotic animals and their diseases, and went into general veterinary practice in Norfolk for two years. I completed the Masters in Wild Animal Health at the Institute of Zoology, London, in 2004, during which time I furthered my interest in wildlife epidemiology. I gained my RCVS Certificate in Zoological Medicine in 2004, and followed this up with a temporary position in the veterinary department at Johannesburg Zoo. In 2005 I began my PhD, focusing on the role of social interaction in the transmission of TB in wild mammals, in the newly-created Cambridge Infectious Diseases Consortium at the University of Cambridge.

Main collaborators

• Dr Gareth Pearce, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge
• Prof. Tim Clutton-Brock, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge
• Prof Glyn Hewinson, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge
• Dr Gilly Dean, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge
• Dr Anita Michel, Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Pretoria, South Africa
• Ms Tiny Hlokwe, Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Pretoria, South Africa

Key publications since 2001

• Drewe, J., Foote, A., Sutcliffe, R. and Pearce, G. (submitted) Pathology of Mycobacterium bovis infection in wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta). Journal of Comparative Pathology.
• Cross, P.C., Drewe, J., Patrek, V., Pearce, G., Samuel, M.D. and Delahay, R. (in prep.) Wildlife population structure and parasite transmission: implications for disease management. In: R.J. Delahay, G.C. Smith and M.R. Hutchings (Eds) Management of disease in wild mammals. Springer Publishing.