Deterministic Models in Epidemiology: From Modeling to Implementation

Dadlani, Aresh; Afolabi, Richard O.; Jung, Hyoyoung; Sohraby, Khosrow; Kim, Kiseon

The abrupt outbreak and transmission of biological diseases has always been a long-time concern of humankind. For long, mathematical modeling has served as a simple and yet efficient tool to investigate, predict, and control spread of communicable diseases through individuals. A myriad of works on epidemic models and their variants have been reported in the literature. For better prediction of the dynamics of a particular disease, it is important to adopt the most suitable model. In this paper, we study some of the widely-appreciated deterministic epidemic models in which the population is divided into compartments based on the health status of each individual. In particular, we provide a demographic classification of such models and study each of them in terms of mathematical formulation, near equilibrium point stability properties, and disease outbreak threshold conditions (basic reproduction ratio). Furthermore, we discuss the various influential factors that need to be considered during epidemic modeling. The main objective of this article is to provide a basic understanding of the mathematical complexity incurred in deterministic epidemic models with the aid of graphical illustrations obtained through implementation.