MITACS funds development of SARS model

A team of 14 experts are using mathematical modelling and analysis to develop a cost-effective method for validating assumptions and testing theories relating to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The team of mathematicians, virologists, infectious disease experts and public health scientists is being led by Dr Jianhong Wu, Canada Research Chair in applied mathematics at York Univ. Its work is funded by Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS), a Network of Centres of Excellence. The project — entitled Transmission Dynamics and Spatial Spread of Infectious Diseases: Modeling, Prediction and Control — will first use previous models and approaches for similar infectious diseases to develop a model for SARS. The second stage will see the development of complex computer simulations based on the findings.