In the study, “Simple Models of Influenza Progression Within a Heterogeneous Population,” Dr. Richard C. Larson, a former president of INFORMS and a professor at MIT, discusses the importance of forecasting and ultimately limiting the spread of disease while taking into account the different infection rates among those who might contract the disease.
“We allow for socially active people who interact with many other people on a given day, and we allow for relatively inactive people who interact with few others,” he writes. “We provide for highly susceptible people who are more likely to become infected once exposed to the virus, and we include those who are less susceptible. In a similar vein, we allow for highly contagious as well as less contagious infected persons.
“The reasoning behind these assumptions is that heterogeneity across the population in these attributes may affect in first-order ways the manner in which the disease propagates and, consequently, the manner in which we should address mitigation measures.”
The paper introduces operations researchers to the need for new mathematical modeling of an influenza pandemic and its control. Operations research is the application of advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions.
The paper also explores “social distancing” as a disease progression control method. Social distancing refers to steps aimed at reducing the frequency and intensity of daily contact among people. One example of social distancing is telecommuting to work rather than riding public transportation.
Two key findings are (1) early exponential growth of the disease may be dominated by susceptible people who have a great deal of contact with others and may not be indicative of the general population’s risk of infection to the disease, and (2) social distancing with accompanying hygienic steps may be effective nonmedical ways to limit and perhaps even eradicate the disease.
The study appears in O.R. Forum, which appears in the current issue of the journal Operations Research. Operations Research introduced the bi-monthly feature in its March-April 2007 issue.
O.R. Forum is a spotlight on important research selected from the field of operations research and related fields, such as revenue management, marketing science, health care, homeland security, and computational economics. It will appear in every issue of the bi-monthly journal. A special feature of O.R. Forum is its online Discussion Forum. An open access version of the featured O.R. Forum study and the O.R. Forum discussion board can be found by visiting the journal’s homepage http://or.pubs.informs.org.
Papers addressing pressing issues in operations research are solicited for the Forum. Interested authors should contact Area Editor Michael Trick (trick@cmu.edu) for guidelines and suggestions.
MIT’s press release about this study can be found online at http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/influenza-0531.html.
About INFORMS
INFORMS journals are strongly cited in Journal Citation Reports, an industry source. In the JCR subject category “operations research and management science,” Operations Research ranked in the top 10 along with two other INFORMS journals.
The special MBA issue published by Business Week includes Operations Research and two other INFORMS journals in its list of 20 top academic journals that are used to evaluate business school programs. Financial Times includes Operations Research and four other INFORMS journals in its list of academic journals used to evaluate MBA programs.
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®) is an international scientific society with 10,000 members, including Nobel Prize laureates, dedicated to applying scientific methods to help improve decision-making, management, and operations. Members of INFORMS work in business, government, and academia. They are represented in fields as diverse as airlines, health care, law enforcement, the military, financial engineering, and telecommunications. The INFORMS website is www.informs.org. More information about operations research is at www.scienceofbetter.org.
Journal
Operations Research