Background Aedes aegypti, the principal vector of dengue fever, have been genetically engineered for use in a sterile insect control programme. To improve our understanding of the dispersal ecology of mosquitoes and to inform appropriate release strategies of ‘genetically sterile’ male Aedes aegypti detailed knowledge of the dispersal ability of the released insects is needed.Methodology/Principal FindingsThe dispersal ability of released ‘genetically sterile’ male Aedes aegypti at a field site in Brazil has been estimated. Dispersal kernels embedded within a generalized linear model framework were used to analyse data collected from three large scale mark release recapture studies. The methodology has been applied to previously published dispersal data to compare the dispersal ability of ‘genetically sterile’ male Aedes aegypti in contrasting environments. We parameterised dispersal kernels and estimated the mean distance travelled for insects in Brazil: 52.8m (95% CI: 49.9m, 56.8m) and Malaysia: 58.0m (95% CI: 51.1m, 71.0m).Conclusions/SignificanceOur results provide specific, detailed estimates of the dispersal characteristics of released ‘genetically sterile’ male Aedes aegypti in the field. The comparative analysis indicates that despite differing environments and recapture rates, key features of the insects’ dispersal kernels are conserved across the two studies. The results can be used to inform both risk assessments and release programmes using ‘genetically sterile’ male Aedes aegypti.

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Footpad dermatitis and hockburn are serious welfare and economic issues for the production of broiler (meat) chickens. The authors here describe the use of an inexpensive camera system that monitors the movements of broiler flocks throughout their lives and suggest that it is possible to predict, even in young birds, the cross-sectional prevalence at slaughter of footpad dermatitis and hockburn before external signs are visible. The skew and kurtosis calculated from the authors' camera-based optical flow system had considerably more power to predict these outcomes in the 50 flocks reported here than water consumption, bodyweight or mortality and therefore have the potential to inform improved flock management through giving farmers early warning of welfare issues. Further trials are underway to establish the generality of the results.

Purpose: Timeliness is the key feature of detection and response of emerging infectious diseases outbreaks and especially hemorrhagic fevers. To better understand gaps, underlining reasons and propose improvements of surveillance systems a multi-country analysis and evaluation of Time to Detect and Time to Respond (TDTR) to haemorrhagic fever outbreaks has been carried out by Southeast European Center for Surveillance and Control of Infectious Diseases (SECID).Methods & Materials: A standardized spreadsheet template has been developed and used by Albania, Kosovo* and Bulgaria to collect in a structured format the surveillance and response timelines data. The analysis of time lags between detection, confirmation, reporting and responding was estimated through descriptive methods based on measures of central tendency and accompanied by related standard deviations and complemented with graphical representations through bar charts and box plots.Results: The data and surveillance process analysis show that the existing surveillance activities present notable gaps. We measured three main days interval groups: