Abstract
Public health professionals are charged with the task of designing prevention programs for the effective control of biologically intricate infectious diseases at a population level. The effective vaccination of a population for pneumococcal diseases (infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae) remains a relevant question in the scientific community. It is complicated by heterogeneity in individuals' responses to exposure to the bacterium and their responses to vaccination. Due to these complexities, most modelling efforts in this area have been on the cellular/bacteria level. Here, we introduce an age-structured SEIS-type model of pneumococcal diseases and their vaccination. We discuss the use of this framework in predicting the impact of vaccine strategies, with pneumococcal diseases as an example. Using parameter values reasonable for a developed country, we discuss the effects of targeting the colonization and/or infection stages on the age profiles of morbidity in a population.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 176-195 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Journal of biological dynamics |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2010 |
Keywords
- Mathematical model
- Pneumococcal infections
- Vaccine strategies
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Ecology