TY - JOUR T1 - Identifying Reservoirs of Infection: A Conceptual and Practical Challenge T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2002 VL - 8 IS - 12 SP - 1468 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Many infectious agents, especially those that cause emerging diseases, infect more than one host species. Managing reservoirs of multihost pathogens often plays a crucial role in effective disease control. However, reservoirs remain variously and loosely defined. We propose that reservoirs can only be understood with reference to defined target populations. Therefore, we define a reservoir as one or more epidemiologically connected populations or environments in which the pathogen can be permanently maintained and from which infection is transmitted to the defined target population. Existence of a reservoir is confirmed when infection within the target population cannot be sustained after all transmission between target and nontarget populations has been eliminated. When disease can be controlled solely by interventions within target populations, little knowledge of potentially complex reservoir infection dynamics is necessary for effective control. We discuss the practical value of different approaches that may be used to identify reservoirs in the field. KW - reservoir KW - epidemiology KW - pathogen KW - disease control KW - transmission KW - United Kingdom KW - Canada DO - 10.3201/eid0812.010317 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/12/01-0317_article ER - End of Reference