The simulated infection dynamics in this study are based on those of MORV, which naturally occurs in M. natalensis in Tanzania, and of which the transmission ecology  and patterns of infectivity  have been documented in detail; it has a latent period of about 3 days between infection and excretion (which we here ignored for simplicity), an infectious period of 30–40 days, and presumably lifelong immunity. MORV transmission can therefore be modelled using a simple SIR model (described below).