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view/download model file: HumanEpidemic.nlogo
Here is a village somewhere in the world sometime near the end of the 1800's. Epidemics break out, and scientists like Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, Ronald Ross, Carlos Finlay, and Walter Reed are trying to determine their cause. In this model, the disease may be spread
(1) By direct contact with infected humans.
(2) By drinking infected water.
(3) By eating tainted food.
(4) By being bitten by flying insects like mosquitos.
In the simulation, the human inhabitants of the village sleep for 8 hours in their houses, after which they make their way to the river for water, eat 3 times a day (food not shown), and wander about doing their daily activities. All the while, black mosquitos are flying around, including in and out of the houses.
Something infects an uninfected individual, but they don't become symptomatic for 24 hours, on average. When they do become symptomatic, they head for the hospital. The hospital houses the symptomatic until they recover 72 hours, on average, after becoming symptomatic.
The plot counts ONLY those who are in the hospital -- others may be ill and simply have not yet gone to the hospital.
You can adjust the probability of infection and the ticks per hour to change the scale and coarseness of the simuation.