2019/03/14 by Feldman, Joshua, Mishra, Sharmistha
#Dynamical Systems (math.DS) #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Mathematics #FOS: Physical sciences #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph) #Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1903.05984
Many infectious diseases can lead to re-infection. We examined the relationship between the prevalence of repeat infection and the basic reproductive number (R0). First we solved a generic, deterministic compartmental model of re-infection to derive an analytic solution for the relationship. We then numerically solved a disease specific model of syphilis transmission that explicitly tracked re-infection. We derived a generic expression that reflects a non-linear and monotonically increasing relationship between proportion re-infection and R0 and which is attenuated by entry/exit rates and recovery (i.e. treatment). Numerical simulations from the syphilis model aligned with the analytic relationship. Re-infection proportions could be used to understand how far regions are from epidemic control, and should be included as a routine indicator in infectious disease surveillance.