Mathematical models for rabies.

Rabies virus and its associated host-pathogen population dynamics have proven a remarkable model system for developing mathematical models of infectious disease emergence and spread. Beginning with simple susceptible-infectious-removed (SIR) compartment models of fox rabies emergence and spread across Western Europe, mathematical models have now been developed to incorporate dynamics across heterogeneous landscapes, host demographic variation, and environmental stochasticity. Model structures range from systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) to stochastic agent-based computational simulations. We have reviewed the variety of mathematical approaches now available for analyzing dynamics in different host populations; most notably rabies virus spread in raccoon hosts.