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arXiv · 0912.3330

Contact intervals, survival analysis of epidemic data, and estimation of R_0

Eben Kenah
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Abstract

We argue that the time from the onset of infectiousness to infectious contact, which we call the contact interval, is a better basis for inference in epidemic data than the generation or serial interval. Since contact intervals can be right-censored, survival analysis is the natural approach to estimation. Estimates of the contact interval distribution can be used to estimate R_0 in both mass-action and network-based models.

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Eben Kenah. 2009-12-17. Contact intervals, survival analysis of epidemic data, and estimation of R_0. https://doi.org/10.1093/biostatistics%2Fkxq068

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