An age-dependent epidemic model with application to measles (Q1062642)

The author presents an epidemic model for an SIRS disease in a population with constant size. By using age dependent epidemic as well as demographic parameters the model is first derived as a system of partial differential equations for the age distributions of the susceptible, infectious and removed individuals, respectively. These equations are then reduced to a system of ordinary differential equations by dividing the age axis into a certain number of age groups and integrating over each age group. A stability analysis is performed for the case where the total number of individuals in each age group is constant, i.e. independent of time. Finally the problem of parameter estimation and some applications of the model (to measles) are discussed.