Social behavior is an important driver of infection dynamics, though identifying the social interactions that foster infectious disease transmission is challenging. Here we examine how social behavior impacts disease transmission in Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) using an easily identifiable skin disease and social network data. We analyzed tattoo skin disease (TSD) lesions based on photographs collected as part of a 34-year longitudinal study in relation to the sociality of T. aduncus using three metrics (degree, time spent socializing, and time in groups) and network structure, using the k-test. We show that calves with TSD in the second year of life associated more with TSD-positive individuals in the first year of life compared with calves that did not have TSD. Additionally, the network k-test showed that the social network links are epidemiologically relevant for transmission. However, degree, time spent in groups, and time spent socializing were not significantly different between infected and uninfected groups. Our findings indicate that association with infected individuals is predictive of an individual’s risk for TSD and that the social association network can serve as a proxy for studying the epidemiology of skin diseases in bottlenose dolphins.

中文翻译：

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澳大利亚鲨鱼湾宽吻海豚中的社交和纹身皮肤病

社会行为是感染动态的重要驱动力，尽管要确定促进传染病传播的社会互动具有挑战性。在这里，我们使用易于识别的皮肤疾病和社交网络数据，研究了社交行为如何影响印度太平洋太平洋宽吻海豚（突触类海豚）中的疾病传播。我们使用三项指标（度数，社交时间和组内时间）和网络结构，根据一项为期34年的纵向研究的有关纹身的社会性有关的照片，对纹身皮肤疾病（TSD）病变进行了分析，使用k检验。我们显示，与没有TSD的犊牛相比，第二年患有TSD的犊牛与生命第一年的TSD阳性个体相关性更高。另外，网络k检验表明社交网络链接在流行病学上与传播有关。但是，感染组和未感染组之间的程度，花费的时间和社交时间没有显着差异。我们的发现表明，与受感染个体的关联可以预测个体患TSD的风险，并且社会关联网络可以充当研究宽吻海豚皮肤病流行病学的代理人。