A simple agent model of an epidemic

Abstract This paper presents an agent model that simulates the spread of an infection in a population. The epidemic depicted could be any attribute that is passed from a one person to others in society, for example, a disease, an idea or belief, a fad, a market or a behavioral pattern. The model was constructed to study the sensitivity of factors such as virility of the infectious agent, the “reach” of the vector and the density of the population in which the epidemic takes place. A further goal was to begin the development of a general-purpose forecasting model based on the use of agents. The model and its results are presented in this paper.