Stochastic Multitype Epidemic Models with Rare Contacts
Mikael Andersson
Dept of Mathematical Statistics, Chalmers Univ of Tech, Gothenburg, Sweden
Abstract
A common condition on stochastic multitype models for the spread of
infectious diseases is that the contact pattern is irreducible. This
means that there are sufficiently frequent contacts between individuals
of different types to ensure that a large epidemic will affect all types
in a population. By relaxing this rather restrictive condition, it is
possible to get a more complex behaviour, where some types may escape the
disease almost entirely. Some interesting phenomena also arise if we
allow contact intensities of two different magnitudes; frequent and rare.
