The SIR model and the Foundations of Public Health

• Weiss, Howard ^[1]
  1. [1] Georgia Institute of Technology

     Georgia Institute of Technology

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Materials matemàtics, ISSN-e 1887-1097, Nº. 0, 2013
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • We introduce and analyze a basic transmission model for a directly transmitted infectious disease. The model consists of a system of three coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations which does not possess an explicit formula solution. However, simple tools from calculus allow us to extract a great deal of information about the solutions. Along the way we illustrate how this simple model helps to lay a theoretical foundation for public health interventions and how several cornerstones of public health required such a model to illuminate.