Developing a Mathematical Model of Foot and Mouth Disease
The outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK during 2001 resulted in the death of over 6 million animals and an economic loss of approximately $14 billion. Understanding the dynamics of the disease is important for preventing or managing future outbreaks. Several susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) models were formed and examined as a result of work completed during the PIMS Mathematical Biology Summer 2007 Workshop at the University of Alberta. The model development starts with the most basic disease dynamics and goes to include the effects of vaccination and patterns generated by early disease detection. This presentation will also include a brief discussion of herd immunity and Canadian disease management policy.