Michael E. DeWitt | Infectious Disease Dynamics, Bayesian Modeling & Surveillance

* Joint authorship § Corresponding ¶ Student author

Selected Peer-reviewed publications

  1. Manuel JA¶ , Wenner JJ, DeWitt ME, Bellotti BR, Toler C, Palavecino E, et al. Comparison of Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC) as Measured by Etests and Agar Dilution in Neisseria gonorrhoeae Isolates Tested from 2018-2024 2025:2025.07.27.25332272. doi:10.1101/2025.07.27.25332272. Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
  2. Addo SE, Addo M, DeWitt ME, Tawiah-Mensah CNL, Amoah S, Unicorn NM, Kyeremateng ET, Desewu G, Larbi JA. Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Abattoir Workers in Kumasi towards Ticks and Tick-borne pathogens. Public Health Challenges. (accepted)
  3. DeWitt ME§, Bellotti BR, Kortessis N, Shetty AK, Green J, Neelakanta A, et al. A Rapid Risk Assessment for Measles Outbreaks in North Carolina 2025:2025.09.10.25335511. doi:10.1101/2025.09.10.25335511. North Carolina Medical Journal (accepted)
  4. Hasan MA, Gill K, DeWitt ME, McNeil CJ. Risk of Adolescent Pregnancy in Masiphumelele, South Africa. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2025. (accepted).
  5. Parish PC, Taylor AD, Stone TJ, Luther VP, Ohl CA, DeWitt ME, Beardsley JR. Evaluation of the Microbiology and Clinical Outcomes of Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis (SBP) within a US Academic Health System. Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology. 2025 October: 5(1). DOI: 10.1017/ash.2025.10203.
  6. DeWitt ME§, Wenner JJ, Bellotti BR, Manuel JA¶, Toler C, Palavecino E, et al. Promise and peril: doxycycline prophylaxis and the spread of resistance among diverse populations. The Lancet Microbe. 2025 Aug;101222. DOI:10.1016/j.lanmic.2025.101222
  7. Madola A¶, DeWitt M, Wenner J, McNeil CJ. Attack of the Bots: Lessons from a Compromised Online MSM Survey. Epidemiology and Infection. Published online 2025:1-12. doi:10.1017/S095026882510040X
  8. Mbafor FL, Osei-Mensah J, Kwarteng SA, Addo SO, Kingsley MT, DeWitt ME, et al. Molecular Detection of Ricketssia africae and Candidatus Midichloria mitochondrii in Cattle Ticks from Cameroon. Veterinary Biomedical and Clinical Journal. 2025 Jun 30;7(1):45–58. 10.21776/ub.VetBioClinJ.2025.007.01.4
  9. Addo M, Apaame S, Ghanney MA, Adu HK, DeWitt ME, Addo SO. Hepatitis B Infection in Outpatients and Pregnant Women Visiting a Mission Hospital in Ghana. Public Health Chall 2025;4:e70071. doi:10.1002/puh2.70071.
  10. Ahmed A, DeWitt ME, Dantuluri KL, Buahin A, Castri P, Friedman-Klabanoff D, et al. At-Home Testing to Characterize SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence Among Children and Adolescents. COVID 2025;5:68. doi:10.3390/covid5050068.
  11. DeWitt ME, Reinke CE, Inman M, Bischoff W, Kester S, Neelanka A, Sampson M, Passaretti CA.“Exploring Social Vulnerability in National Health Safety Network (NHSN) Surgical Site Infections. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology 2025; 10.1017/ice.2025.52.
  12. Jones BS*¶, DeWitt ME*§, Wenner JJ, Sanders JW. Lyme Disease Under-Ascertainment During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States: Retrospective Study. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance 2024;10:e56571.
  13. DeWitt ME, Reinke C, Inman M, Bischoff W, Kester S, Sampson M, et al. Exploring Socioeconomic Disparities in Surgical Site Infections. Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology 2024;4:s2–3. https://doi.org/10.1017/ash.2024.99.
  14. DeWitt ME, Sanders JW. Tropical Diseases in the United States: Beyond Poverty - Advancing an Ecological Framework in Tropical Medicine. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2024;111:1-3.
  15. DeWitt ME§, Wenner J, McNeil CJ. Expansion of Lateral Flow Assays to Adolescences and High-Risk Populations. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 2024.
  16. Dantuluri KL, Buahin A, Uschner D, DeWitt ME, Rossman W, Dunn CO, et al. Association of social vulnerability index and masking adherence among children enrolled in COVID-19 community research partnership study. BMC Public Health. 2024 Feb 8;24(1):410.
  17. DeWitt ME§, Pabon V, Vasquez A, Wenner JJ, McNeil CJ. STI self-testing: ensuring representation and outreach to teens and adolescents in expanded approaches. Sex Transm Infect. 2024 Feb 2.
  18. McNeil CJ, Barr B, Munawar I, DeWitt ME, Myers JS, Shetty AK. Assessing Barriers to Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination in At-Risk Rural Communities of Western North Carolina, United States. Vaccines. 2023 Dec;11(12):1785.
  19. Ahmed A*, DeWitt ME*§, Dantuluri KL, Castri P, Buahin A, LaGarde WH, Weintraub WS, Rossman W, Santos RP, Gibbs M, Uschner D. Characterization of Infection-Induced SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence Amongst Children and Adolescents in North Carolina. Epidemiology & Infection, 1-25, 2023.
  20. DeWitt M§, Wierzba TF. Automatic Case Cluster Detection Using Hospital Electronic Health Record Data. Biology Methods and Protocols, March 15, 2023.
  21. Stone TJ, DeWitt M, Johnson JW, Beardsley JR, Munawar I, Palavecino E, Luther VP, Ohl CA, Williamson JC. Analysis of infections among patients with historical culture positive for extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli or Klebsiella pneumoniae: Is ESBL-targeted therapy always needed? Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology, 3(1), e47, 2023.
  22. Polk C, Sampson M, Fairman RT, DeWitt ME, Leonard M, Neelakanta A, Davidson L, Roshdy D, Branner C, McCurdy L, Ludden T, Tapp H, Passaretti C. Evaluation of a health system's implementation of a monkeypox care model under the RE-AIM framework. Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease, 10, 2023.
  23. DeWitt ME§, Herrington DM, Sanders JW. Venous or Arterial Thrombosis in COVID-19 Cases in the North Carolina COVID-19 Community Research Partnership (NC-CCRP). Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 100080, 2023.
  24. DeWitt ME§, Tjaden AH, Herrington D, et al. COVID-19 Symptoms by Variant Period in the North Carolina COVID-19 Community Research Partnership, North Carolina, USA. Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, Volume 29, Number 1—January 2023.
  25. Semelka CT, DeWitt ME, Blevins MW, Holbrook BC, Sanders JW, Alexander-Miller MA. Frailty impacts immune responses to Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in older adults. Immunity & Ageing, 20(1), 4, 2023.
  26. DeWitt ME§, Polk C, Williamson J, Shetty AK, Passaretti CL, McNeil CJ, et al. Global monkeypox case hospitalisation rates: A rapid systematic review and meta-analysis. EClinicalMedicine 2022;54:101710.
  27. Sampson MM, Polk CM, Fairman RT, DeWitt ME, Leonard MK, Davidson L, et al. Monkeypox testing delays: The need for drastic expansion of education and testing for monkeypox virus. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2022:1-2.
  28. Semelka CT, DeWitt ME, Callahan KE, Herrington DM, Alexander-Miller MA, Yukich JO, Munawar I, McCurdy LH, Gibbs MA, Weintraub WS, Sanders JW. Frailty and COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Antibody Response in The COVID-19 Community Research Partnership. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci.
  29. DeWitt ME, Scheib C, Jones M, Cowin P. Deriving Analytic Insights During a Novel Pandemic. North Carolina Medical Journal, 82(4) 284-286.
  30. DeWitt, M., Ahmadiani, M., & Hyde, A. tidyqwi: A Tidy Approach to Accessing The US Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators. Journal of Open Source Software, 4(38), 1462, 2019.
  31. Summers, Phillip, and Michael DeWitt. "Analysis of the Winston-Salem Public Transit System." Virginia Policy Review, October 31, 2018.

Pre-prints

  1. DeWitt ME§. Rapid Impact Analysis of B 1.1.7 Variant on the Spread of SARS-CoV-2 in North Carolina. medRxiv. Published online February 9, 2021:2021.02.07.21251291. doi:10.1101/2021.02.07.21251291
  2. DeWitt ME§, Kortessis N, Sanders JW, McNeil CJ. The Challenges of Surveying Heavy-tail Distributions for Use in Infectious Disease Dynamics. Published online July 6, 2023:2023.07.05.23292248. doi:10.1101/2023.07.05.23292248
  3. DeWitt ME§, Sampson MM, Fairman RT, et al. Estimated Monkeypox Susceptible MSM Population in North Carolina. Published online July 21, 2022:2022.07.21.22277860. doi:10.1101/2022.07.21.22277860
  4. Bellotti BR*, DeWitt ME*, Wenner JJ, Lombard JE, McCluskey BJ, Kortessis N. Challenges and lessons learned from preliminary modeling of with-in herd transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 in dairy cattle. Published online August 8, 2024:2024.08.06.606397. doi:10.1101/2024.08.06.606397
  5. DeWitt ME§;, Bellotti BR, Kortessis N. Time is of the essence: effectiveness of dairy farm control of H5N1 is limited by fast spread. Published online November 15, 2024:2024.11.15.623774. doi:10.1101/2024.11.15.623774
  6. Bellotti BR, Wenner J, Toler C, Pabon V, DeWitt ME*, McNeil CJ*. Core group dynamics of gonorrhea infection in a North Carolina county from 2018 to 2023 2025:2025.04.14.25325476. doi:10.1101/2025.04.14.25325476.