27 min

Rnaught: The Reproductive Number of a Virus The Secret Life of Numbers

    • Science

Since the COVID 19 pandemic, epidemiology and virology terms have entered our everyday language, but what do they really mean? What’s the reproductive number of a virus and what can it tells us about disease dynamics? And why have we been following an arms race between rabbits in Australia and a virus for over 70 years now? Join Levannia and Lindsay as they dive into disease dynamics. Come learn the math behind the numbers we’ve heard all too often during the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ll explain how Rnaught is calculated and how we factor in transmissibility, contact rate, and more. For a real world example NOT related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we share the century long story of the arms race between rabbits in Australia and bio contral with the myxoma virus.

Be sure to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It really helps our podcast reach new listeners!

Follow us on Instagram/Facebook @thesecretlifeofnumbers

Find the references we used in this episode in our Show Notes

Check out our Anchor Profile

Sound Editing/Original Music by Julian Bertino Sound info@julianbertinosound.com

Send us an email! secretlifeofnumbers@gmail.com

Tags: Rnaught, COVID-19, virus, public health, global health, disease dynamics, pandemic, statistics, STEM, women in science, women in STEM, medicine

Since the COVID 19 pandemic, epidemiology and virology terms have entered our everyday language, but what do they really mean? What’s the reproductive number of a virus and what can it tells us about disease dynamics? And why have we been following an arms race between rabbits in Australia and a virus for over 70 years now? Join Levannia and Lindsay as they dive into disease dynamics. Come learn the math behind the numbers we’ve heard all too often during the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ll explain how Rnaught is calculated and how we factor in transmissibility, contact rate, and more. For a real world example NOT related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we share the century long story of the arms race between rabbits in Australia and bio contral with the myxoma virus.

Be sure to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It really helps our podcast reach new listeners!

Follow us on Instagram/Facebook @thesecretlifeofnumbers

Find the references we used in this episode in our Show Notes

Check out our Anchor Profile

Sound Editing/Original Music by Julian Bertino Sound info@julianbertinosound.com

Send us an email! secretlifeofnumbers@gmail.com

Tags: Rnaught, COVID-19, virus, public health, global health, disease dynamics, pandemic, statistics, STEM, women in science, women in STEM, medicine

27 min

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