Special Session 11: 

Spatial Spread of Epidemic Diseases in Geographical Settings: Seasonal Influenza Epidemics in Puerto Rico

Yixiang Wu
Vanderbilt University
USA
Co-Author(s):    Pierre Magal, Glenn F Webb
Abstract:
Deterministic models are developed for the spatial spread of epidemic diseases in geographical settings. The models are focused on outbreaks that arise from a small number of infected hosts imported into subregions of the geographical settings. The goal is to understand how spatial heterogeneity influences the transmission dynamics of the susceptible and infected populations. The models consist of systems of partial differential equations with diffusion terms describing the spatial spread of the underlying microbial infectious agents. The model is compared with real data from seasonal influenza epidemics in Puerto Rico.