title: Public vaccination policy using an age-structured model of pneumococcal infection dynamics.
abstract: Public health professionals are charged with the task of designing prevention programs for the effective control of biologically intricate infectious diseases at a population level. The effective vaccination of a population for pneumococcal diseases (infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae) remains a relevant question in the scientific community. It is complicated by heterogeneity in individuals' responses to exposure to the bacterium and their responses to vaccination. Due to these complexities, most modelling efforts in this area have been on the cellular/bacteria level. Here, we introduce an age-structured SEIS-type model of pneumococcal diseases and their vaccination. We discuss the use of this framework in predicting the impact of vaccine strategies, with pneumococcal diseases as an example. Using parameter values reasonable for a developed country, we discuss the effects of targeting the colonization and/or infection stages on the age profiles of morbidity in a population.
authors.affiliation: Center for Research in Scientific Computation, & Center for Quantitative Studies in Biomedicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8212, USA. klsutton@ncsu.edu
authors.forename: Karyn L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Banks
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Castillo-Chavez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003140:Communicable Disease Control; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000379:methods*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D011634:Public Health; D011640:Public Policy; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000378:metabolism; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D022242:Pneumococcal Vaccines