PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF AN AGENT-BASED MODEL FOR A TICK-BORNE DISEASE

Authored by Holly Gaff

Date Published: 2011-04

DOI: 10.3934/mbe.2011.8.463

Sponsors: United States National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Platforms: NetLogo

Model Documentation: ODD

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

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.

Tags

Agent-based model systems transmission tick-borne disease Competence Computer-simulation Amblyomma-americanum acari Lyme-disease Ixodidae population-dynamics White-tailed deer Host-vector epidemic Ehrlichiosis