A continuous function model for the age-related force of infection

✍ Scribed by E. Massad; S.M. Raimundo; A.S.B. Silveira

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 848 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0895-7177
• DOI: 10.1016/0895-7177(90)90057-t

✦ Synopsis

Serological data of measles and rubella from seven non-vaccinated communities were fitted, as related to age, to a sigmoid model. This provided a continuous function which allowed the estimation of the age-related force of infection function. Epidemiological parameters, such as the average age at infection, the critical proportion to vaccinate in order to eradicate the infection, the basic reproductive rate and the optimum age to vaccinate the susceptible population, were derived from the estimated force of infection. The results were checked through numerical simulation of a compartmental model, applying the parameters estimated from the proposed analysis. The model has shown a good fitting accuracy and a good retrieving capacity of the original data.