Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2011

DOI

10.3934/mbe.2011.8.463

Publication Title

Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering

Volume

8

Issue

2

Pages

463-473

Abstract

Ticks have a unique life history including a distinct set of life stages and a single blood meal per life stage. This makes tick-host interactions more complex from a mathematical perspective. In addition, any model of these interactions must involve a significant degree of stochasticity on the individual tick level. In an attempt to quantify these relationships, I have developed an individual-based model of the interactions between ticks and their hosts as well as the transmission of tick-borne disease between the two populations. The results from this model are compared with those from previously published differential equation based population models. The findings show that the agent-based model produces significantly lower prevalence of disease in both the ticks and their hosts than what is predicted by a similar differential equation model.

Original Publication Citation

Gaff, H. (2011). Preliminary analysis of an agent-based model for a tick-borne disease. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 8(2), 463-473. doi:10.3934/mbe.2011.8.463

ORCID

0000-0002-4034-2684 (Gaff)

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