Complexity Science Seminar Series - Abstracts
Title: Network Frailty and the Geometry of Herd Immunity
Presenter:
Shweta Bansal, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Penn State University
Please note that this seminar has been postponed due to extenuating circumstances.
Thank you for your understanding.
Date and Time: TBA
Abstract:
Directly transmitted diseases spread across individual-to-individual contact networks are determined by the mode of transmission (e.g. aerosol vs. sexually transmitted) and the social structure of the host population. Pathogen dynamics, therefore, fundamentally depend on the structure of the underlying contact network as molded by patterns of immunization through prior exposure to the disease. Immunized individuals are effectively removed from the network, thereby breaking possible chains of transmission and leaving a sparser residual network. An important principle in epidemiology, known as herd immunity, is that an entire population can be protected by the immunization of a fraction of the hosts. The distribution of epidemiologically active contacts in a partially immunized network, and thus the efficacy of herd immunity, will be shaped by the original network geometry and the method of immunization. We investigate the phenomenon of herd immunity in a network by considering the structural evolution of several classes of contact networks over the course of an epidemic. We show that the evolution of these quantities varies with the underlying geometry of the network and, consequently, that natural immunization by epidemics can, for some networks, provide greater community-level protection than random vaccination.
Seminar Location: The seminars are held at:
Virginia Tech, Corporate Research Center
1880 Pratt Drive, Building XV
Seminar Room, First Floor
Directions: Map (PDF)
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