The SIR process, an acronym for Susceptible-Infected-Recovered, is a fundamental epidemiological model used to understand the dynamics of infectious disease...
SIR stands for Susceptible, Infected, and Recovered (or Removed) – the three compartments individuals move through during an infectious disease outbreak according to this model.
It's primarily used to forecast epidemic curves, estimate key parameters like the basic reproduction number (R0), assess the impact of interventions, and guide public health policies.
Key limitations include assuming homogeneous mixing within a population, neglecting age structure or spatial heterogeneity, and often not accounting for births, deaths, or asymptomatic carriers.
No, the basic SIR model is a population-level model that describes the average behavior of disease spread within large groups, not the infection status or prognosis of individual people.