Modeling the impact of supra-structural network nodes: The case of anonymous syringe sharing and HIV among people who inject drugs

Authored by Lindsey Richardson, Thomas Grund

Date Published: 2012-05

DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2011.12.004

Sponsors: Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) United Kingdom Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Platforms: NetLogo

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

Networks are well understood as crucial to the diffusion of HIV among injection drug users (IDUs), but quasi-anonymous risk nodes - such as shooting galleries - resist measurement and incorporation into empirical analyses of disease diffusion. Drawing on network data from 767 IDUs in Bushwick, Brooklyn, we illustrate the use of calibrated agent-based models (CABMs) to account for network structure, injection practices, and quasi-anonymous transmission in shooting galleries. Results confirm the importance of network structure and actor heterogeneity to the magnitude and speed of HIV transmission. Models further demonstrate that quasi-anonymous injections in shooting galleries increase the speed of HIV diffusion across the whole network and have the greatest impact on HIV seroconversion levels for IDUs at the network periphery. Shooting galleries are shown to be transmission hubs that operate independently of traceable structural ties, linking otherwise unconnected network components. CABMs potentially increase understandings of HIV diffusion dynamics by infusing computer simulations with empirical data. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Tags

Calibrated agent based model Disease diffusion HIV transmission Quasi-anonymous transmission Shooting gallery Syringe sharing