Seminar
When
October 6, 2026 01:00 pm
Where
Michael Smith Laboratories, MSL 101
Presenter(s)
Ottar Bjørnstad
Host(s)
Kayla King
"Outbreaks of measles and other childhood infections: resonance and dissonance in epidemiological clockworks", Ottar Bjørnstad, Professor, Penn State
Immunizing viral diseases usually exhibit violent, recurrent epidemics. The interepidemic intervals are sometimes predictable and sometimes erratic. I will discuss a variety of historical data to show how the diverse dynamic patterns arise from relatively simple ecological clockworks governed by the pathogen infectious period, host birth / vaccination rate, seasonality in transmission and cross-immunity among strains.
