title: Modelling disease spread through random and regular contacts in clustered populations.
abstract: An epidemic spreading through a network of regular, repeated, contacts behaves differently from one that is spread by random interactions: regular contacts serve to reduce the speed and eventual size of an epidemic. This paper uses a mathematical model to explore the difference between regular and random contacts, considering particularly the effect of clustering within the contact network. In a clustered population random contacts have a much greater impact, allowing infection to reach parts of the network that would otherwise be inaccessible. When all contacts are regular, clustering greatly reduces the spread of infection; this effect is negated by a small number of random contacts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. K.Eames@warwick.ac.uk
authors.forename: K T D
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Eames
mesh_terms: D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011156:Population Density; D012931:Social Environment; D006113:United Kingdom