Modelling the transmission and control strategies of varicella among school children in Shenzhen, China.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:Varicella (chickenpox) is a highly transmissible childhood disease. Between 2010 and 2015, it displayed two epidemic waves annually among school populations in Shenzhen, China. However, their transmission dynamics remain unclear and there is no school-based vaccination programme in Shenzhen to-date. In this study, we developed a mathematical model to compare a school-based vaccination intervention scenario with a baseline (i.e. no intervention) scenario. METHODS:Data on varicella reported cases were downloaded from the Infectious Disease Reporting Information Management System. We obtained the population size, age structure of children aged 15 or under, the class and school distribution from Shenzhen Education Bureau. We developed an Agent-Based Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Re

SUBMITTER: Tang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5436677 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature