Abstract
In the formulations of standard epidemic models it is usually assumed that, as far as the spread of the disease is concerned, the community consists of homogeneous individuals who mix uniformly with one another. This is a simplifying assumption which helps to make the mathematics tractable. Empirical evidence suggests that in real world epidemics there is often variability among individuals. It is therefore important to determine how the introduction of heterogeneity among individuals is likely to affect any conclusions arrived at from consideration of the standard epidemic models.
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Becker, N., Marschner, I. (1990). The effect of heterogeneity on the spread of disease. In: Gabriel, JP., Lefèvre, C., Picard, P. (eds) Stochastic Processes in Epidemic Theory. Lecture Notes in Biomathematics, vol 86. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-10067-7_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-10067-7_9
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