# American Institute of Mathematical Sciences

• Previous Article
On the eradicability of infections with partially protective vaccination in models with backward bifurcation
• MBE Home
• This Issue
• Next Article
Examination of a simple model of condom usage and individual withdrawal for the HIV epidemic
2009, 6(2): 377-393. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2009.6.377

## The discounted reproductive number for epidemiology

 1 Department of Mathematics, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16802, United States 2 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, United States, United States

Received  September 2008 Revised  November 2008 Published  March 2009

The basic reproductive number, $\Ro$, and the effective reproductive number, $R$, are commonly used in mathematical epidemiology as summary statistics for the size and controllability of epidemics. However, these commonly used reproductive numbers can be misleading when applied to predict pathogen evolution because they do not incorporate the impact of the timing of events in the life-history cycle of the pathogen. To study evolution problems where the host population size is changing, measures like the ultimate proliferation rate must be used. A third measure of reproductive success, which combines properties of both the basic reproductive number and the ultimate proliferation rate, is the discounted reproductive number $\mathcal{R}_d$. The discounted reproductive number is a measure of reproductive success that is an individual's expected lifetime offspring production discounted by the background population growth rate. Here, we draw attention to the discounted reproductive number by providing an explicit definition and a systematic application framework. We describe how the discounted reproductive number overcomes the limitations of both the standard reproductive numbers and proliferation rates, and show that $\mathcal{R}_d$ is closely connected to Fisher's reproductive values for different life-history stages.
Citation: Timothy C. Reluga, Jan Medlock, Alison Galvani. The discounted reproductive number for epidemiology. Mathematical Biosciences & Engineering, 2009, 6 (2) : 377-393. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2009.6.377
 [1] Juan Pablo Pinasco, Mauro Rodriguez Cartabia, Nicolas Saintier. Evolutionary game theory in mixed strategies: From microscopic interactions to kinetic equations. Kinetic & Related Models, , () : -. doi: 10.3934/krm.2020051 [2] Claudianor O. Alves, Rodrigo C. M. Nemer, Sergio H. Monari Soares. The use of the Morse theory to estimate the number of nontrivial solutions of a nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a magnetic field. Communications on Pure & Applied Analysis, , () : -. doi: 10.3934/cpaa.2020276 [3] Felix Finster, Jürg Fröhlich, Marco Oppio, Claudio F. Paganini. Causal fermion systems and the ETH approach to quantum theory. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems - S, 2020  doi: 10.3934/dcdss.2020451 [4] Yueyang Zheng, Jingtao Shi. A stackelberg game of backward stochastic differential equations with partial information. Mathematical Control & Related Fields, 2020  doi: 10.3934/mcrf.2020047 [5] Pierre-Etienne Druet. A theory of generalised solutions for ideal gas mixtures with Maxwell-Stefan diffusion. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems - S, 2020  doi: 10.3934/dcdss.2020458 [6] Youming Guo, Tingting Li. Optimal control strategies for an online game addiction model with low and high risk exposure. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems - B, 2020  doi: 10.3934/dcdsb.2020347

2018 Impact Factor: 1.313