Impact of Travel Between Patches for Spatial Spread of Disease

  • Date: 10/19/2006
Lecturer(s):

Lin Wang (University of British Columbia)

Location: 

University of British Columbia

Topic: 

A patch model is proposed to study the impact of travel on the spatial
spread of disease between patches. The basic reproduction number for
the i-th patch in isolation, is obtained along with the basic
reproduction number of the system, $mathcal{R}_0$. Inequalities
describing the relationship between these numbers are also given. For a
two-patch model with one high prevalence patch and one low prevalence
patch, results pertaining to the dependence of $mathcal{R}_0$ on the
travel rates between the two patches are obtained. For parameters
relevant for influenza, the effects of travel restrictions are also
discussed. Results show that if border control is properly implemented,
then it could contribute to stopping the spatial spread of disease.

Other Information: 

MITACS Math Biology Seminar 2006

Sponsor: 

pimsmitacs