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Human Sexual Networks

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Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science

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Abbreviations

Basic reproduction rate:

The most common way to calculate the epidemic threshold is to calculate the basic reproduction rate, R 0, which is usually defined as the average number of secondary infections caused by one infectious individual that enters into a totally susceptible population. The basic reproduction rate may underestimate the risk of epidemic outbreaks if the variation in number of contacts is large, as is usually the case with sexual contacts.

Core group:

A subgroup of individuals in a population are characterized by a high partner turnover rate and a high tendency for having sexual contacts within the group. The existence of a core group may push the population above the epidemic threshold.

Epidemic threshold:

The probability that an epidemic will occur is determined by the contagiousness of the disease, the duration of infectiousness, and the interaction structure in the population. Contagious diseases are nonlinear phenomena in the sense that small changes in any of these parameters may push the population from a state in which a large epidemic is not possible to a state in which an epidemic may easily occur if infection is introduced into the population. The specific point at which an epidemic is possible is referred to as the epidemic threshold.

Random homogeneous mixing:

When modeling outbreaks of contagious diseases in a population, the individuals are often assumed to have the same probability of interacting with everyone else in the population. This assumption has been shown to be less valid for sexually transmitted infections because they are characterized by a large variation in number of contacts.

Sexually transmitted infection:

Many contagious infections can be spread through sexual contact. Sexually transmitted infections are, however, generally defined as being spread through vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse, and oral sex. They include Chlamydia trachomatis, gonorrhea, and HIV. The reason why the expression “sexually transmitted infection” is used instead of “sexually transmitted disease” is that a state of infection and infectiousness do not necessarily result in disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Fredrik Liljeros

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  1. Fredrik Liljeros
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Correspondence to Fredrik Liljeros .

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  1. Ramtech Ltd., Larkspur, California, USA

    Robert A. Meyers

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Liljeros, F. (2011). Human Sexual Networks. In: Meyers, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27737-5_275-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27737-5_275-2

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