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Seasonal Disease Outbreaks

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Summary

Areas of Science
Difficulty
 
Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Credits
Kenneth L. Hess, Science Buddies

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Abstract

"Flu season" is something we deal with every winter. Cyclical or seasonal outbreaks of an infectious disease can occur for a variety of reasons, such as seasonal changes in host behavior (for example, more people staying indoors), the seasonal abundance of disease carriers (for example, mosquitos), and many others.

Another factor that can play a role in cyclical outbreaks occurs when the natural immunity to a disease has a short duration. This enables each individual in the population to repeatedly contract the disease.

Familiarize yourself with the Seasonal Disease Outbreaks Notebook in SimPandemic. Use SimPandemic to model how disease variables such as the Basic Reproduction Number (R₀), Duration of Natural Immunity, Duration of Infectiousness, Latent Period, and others can interact to create cyclical outbreaks.

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General citation information is provided here. Be sure to check the formatting, including capitalization, for the method you are using and update your citation, as needed.

MLA Style

Hess, Kenneth L.. "Seasonal Disease Outbreaks." Science Buddies, 17 Apr. 2023, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Coronavirus_p011/coronavirus-covid-19/seasonal-disease-outbreaks. Accessed 28 May 2023.

APA Style

Hess, K. (2023, April 17). Seasonal Disease Outbreaks. Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Coronavirus_p011/coronavirus-covid-19/seasonal-disease-outbreaks


Last edit date: 2023-04-17
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