Pneumonia and influenza – specific considerations in care homes

Dynamics between infectious diseases with two susceptibility conditions: A mathematical model

This paper presents a novel epidemiological transmission model of a population affected by two different susceptible-infected-susceptible infectious diseases. For each disease, individuals fall into one of the two susceptibility conditions in which one of the diseases has the highest occurrence level. This model is unique in assuming that: (a) if an individual is infected by one disease, their susceptibility to the other disease is increased; (b) when an individual recovers from a disease they become less susceptible to it, i.e. they acquire partial immunity. The model captures these two assumptions by utilizing a coupled system of differential equations. Dynamic analysis of the system is based on basic reproductive number theory, and pattern visualization was performed using numerical simulation.