***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org ***** It's a complicated system -- a 2 mode network, with other possible reservoirs (e.g., other animal hosts). To do it right, everything from the lifecycle of the mosquito (at the micro level) and the travel patterns of the hosts (at the macro level) need to be represented. This is not just an agent based model, it's population level simulation with demographics and migration. In a case like this, it's an open question whether the contact network can be approximated by random mixing. It depends on the contribution of sexual transmission of Zika to the overall spread. If that's minimal, the value of modeling the agents directly (which allows for detailed representation of the contact patterns that network analysts care about) may be less valuable than modeling the compartments (humans, mosquitos, other hosts) in the aggregate. So, not an agent or network based model. That said, epidemic modelers have been modeling dengue (also spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito) and malaria (spread by Anopheles) for decades, so there's lots of literature to draw on. best, Martina On Sun, 29 May 2016, Valdis Krebs wrote: > ***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org ***** > > Looking at both sides of the Zika / Olympics in Brazil controversy... > 1) letter from 175+ scientists — http://www.rioolympicslater.org > 2) opinion form the World Health Organization (WHO) — http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/world/americas/zika-olympics-rio-who.html > > I wonder what data/analysis both groups are looking at. Is anyone doing epidemic modeling? Both one-step and two-step transmission? Can something this large be modeled effectively? Maybe agent-based systems? > > Valdis > > Valdis Krebs > Orgnet, LLC > > _____________________________________________________________________ > SOCNET is a service of INSNA, the professional association for social > network researchers (http://www.insna.org). To unsubscribe, send > an email message to [log in to unmask] containing the line > UNSUBSCRIBE SOCNET in the body of the message. > **************************************************************** Professor of Sociology and Statistics Director, UWCFAR Sociobehavioral and Prevention Research Core Box 354322 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-4322 Office: (206) 685-3402 Dept Office: (206) 543-5882, 543-7237 Fax: (206) 685-7419 [log in to unmask] http://faculty.washington.edu/morrism/ _____________________________________________________________________ SOCNET is a service of INSNA, the professional association for social network researchers (http://www.insna.org). To unsubscribe, send an email message to [log in to unmask] containing the line UNSUBSCRIBE SOCNET in the body of the message.