Influence of non-homogeneous mixing on final epidemic size in a meta-population model

Abstract

In meta-population models for infectious diseases, the basic reproduction number R0 can be as much as 70% larger in the case of preferential mixing than that in homogeneous mixing [J.W. Glasser, Z. Feng, S.B. Omer, P.J. Smith, and L.E. Rodewald, The effect of heterogeneity in uptake of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine on the potential for outbreaks of measles: A modelling study, Lancet ID 16 (2016), pp. 599–605. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(16)00004-9]. This suggests that realistic mixing can be an important factor to consider in order for the models to provide a reliable assessment of intervention strategies. The influence of mixing is more significant when the population is highly heterogeneous. In this paper, another quantity, the final epidemic size (F) of an outbreak, is considered to examine the influence of mixing and population heterogeneity. Final size relation is derived for a meta-population model accounting for a general mixing. The results show that F can be influenced by the pattern of mixing in a significant way. Another interesting finding is that, heterogeneity in various sub-population characteristics may have the opposite effect on R0 and F.