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On methods for studying stochastic disease dynamics
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Keeling, Matthew James and Ross, Joshua V. (2008) On methods for studying stochastic disease dynamics. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, Volume 5 (Number 19). pp. 171-181. doi:10.1098/rsif.2007.1106 ISSN 1742-5689.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2007.1106
Abstract
Models that deal with the individual level of populations have shown the importance of stochasticity in ecology, epidemiology and evolution. An increasingly common approach to studying these models is through stochastic (event-driven) simulation. One striking disadvantage of this approach is the need for a large number of replicates to determine the range of expected behaviour. Here, for a class of stochastic models called Markov processes, we present results that overcome this difficulty and provide valuable insights, but which have been largely ignored by applied researchers. For these models, the so- called Kolmogorov forward equation (also called the ensemble or master equation) allows one to simultaneously consider the probability of each possible state occurring. Irrespective of the complexities and nonlinearities of population dynamics, this equation is linear and has a natural matrix formulation that provides many analytical insights into the behaviour of stochastic populations and allows rapid evaluation of process dynamics. Here, using epidemiological models as a template, these ensemble equations are explored and results are compared with traditional stochastic simulations. In addition, we describe further advantages of the matrix formulation of dynamics, providing simple exact methods for evaluating expected eradication (extinction) times of diseases, for comparing expected total costs of possible control programmes and for estimation of disease parameters.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QA Mathematics R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Mathematics | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Stochastic analysis, Epidemiology -- Mathematical models, Communicable diseases -- Mathematical models, Parameter estimation | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of The Royal Society Interface | ||||
Publisher: | The Royal Society Publishing | ||||
ISSN: | 1742-5689 | ||||
Official Date: | 6 February 2008 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Volume 5 | ||||
Number: | Number 19 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 11 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 171-181 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1098/rsif.2007.1106 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||
Funder: | Leverhulme Trust (LT), Royal Society (Great Britain) |
Data sourced from Thomson Reuters' Web of Knowledge
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