Social Network Analysis for Assessment of Avian Influenza Spread and Trading Patterns of Backyard Chickens in Nakhon Pathom, Suphan Buri and Ratchaburi, Thailand

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explain the social networks of the backyard chicken in Ratchaburi, Suphan Buri and Nakhon Pathom Provinces. In this study, we designed the nodes as groups of persons or places involved in activities relating to backyard chickens. The ties are all activities related to the nodes. The study applied a partial network approach to assess the spreading pattern of avian influenza. From 557 questionnaires collected from the nodes, the researchers found that the degree (the numbers of ties that a node has) and closeness (the distance from one node to the others) centralities of Nakhon Pathom were significantly higher than those of the others (P<0.001). The results show that compared with the remaining areas, this area is more quickly connected to many links. If the avian influenza virus subtype H5N1 was released into the network, the disease would spread throughout this province more rapidly than in Ratchaburi and Suphan Buri. The betweenness centrality in each of these provinces showed no differences (P>0.05). In this study, the nodes that play an important role in all networks are farmers who raise consumable chicken, farmers who raise both consumable chicken and fighting cocks, farmers' households that connect with dominant nodes, and the owners and observers of fighting cocks at arenas and training fields. In this study, we did not find cut points or blocks in the network. Moreover, we detected a random network in all provinces. Thus, connectivity between the nodes covers long or short distances, with less predictable behaviour. Finally, this study suggests that activities between the important nodes must receive special attention for disease control during future disease outbreaks.

Combining value chain and social network analysis as a viable tool for informing targeted disease surveillance in the rural poultry sector of Zambia

“…Bearing in mind that developing countries have limited resources, targeted surveillance may provide a cost‐effective option for enhancing poultry disease surveillance (Brioudes & Gummow, ). In addition, prior knowledge of hot spots and actors for respective ego networks could assist in disease control by isolating these components promptly (Poolkhet et al., ) through livestock movement bans in the event of disease outbreaks. Furthermore, the findings of this study can be used by other stakeholders in the poultry sector.…”

“…In an unfortunate manner, such movements are known to be accompanied by the spread of highly infectious poultry diseases such as ND and avian influenza (Firestone, Ward, Christley, & Dhand, ; Martin et al., ; Paul et al., ; Scharrer et al., ). Thus, communities that receive more poultry are at higher risk of exposure to infectious diseases (Brioudes & Gummow, ; Poolkhet et al., ).…”

“…Poultry movement networks have been studied in some tropical regions, such as the South Asian Pacific Islands (Brioudes & Gummow, ) and Asia (Martin et al., ; Poolkhet et al., ). Targeted disease surveillance systems have been evaluated for their value and efficiency in the developed world (Drewe et al., ).…”

Dynamics of avian coronavirus circulation in commercial and non-commercial birds in Asia – a review

“…This relationship needs the attention of authorities to prevent future outbreaks. At the same time, Poolkhet, Chairatanayuth, Thongratsakul, Yatbantoong, et al (2013) specified that the important factors in the spread of avian flu in backyard farming systems are the farmers themselves, neighbors with backyard poultry, and visitors to sport arenas or training fields of fighting poultry. Moreover, Wiratsudakul et al (2014) studied the dynamics of backyard poultry flows in traditional trade networks.…”

Social network analysis of the movement of poultry to and from live bird markets in Bali and Lombok, Indonesia

“…Although SNA was initially used in the social sciences (Borgatti et al., ), it has gained popularity in veterinary epidemiological research. In recent years, network analysis has been used to investigate associations between poultry trade networks and trader practices in Cambodia (Van Kerkhove et al., ) poultry trade networks and HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in Vietnam (Soares Magalhães et al., ) and China (Martin et al., ) and in the identification of high‐risk players in the backyard poultry industry in Thailand (Poolkhet et al., ). Social network analysis is also a useful tool to identify markets that pose a greater threat in terms of disease transmission potential as demonstrated by Fournié et al.…”