title: Stochastic epidemic models: a survey.
abstract: This paper is a survey paper on stochastic epidemic models. A simple stochastic epidemic model is defined and exact and asymptotic (relying on a large community) properties are presented. The purpose of modelling is illustrated by studying effects of vaccination and also in terms of inference procedures for important parameters, such as the basic reproduction number and the critical vaccination coverage. Several generalizations towards realism, e.g. multitype and household epidemic models, are also presented, as is a model for endemic diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden. tom.britton@math.su.se
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Britton
mesh_terms: D050936:Basic Reproduction Number; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D013269:Stochastic Processes