Topological Properties of the Effective Reproduction Number in an Heterogeneous SIS Model

Abstract

This present results lay the foundations for the study of the optimal allocation of vaccine in the simple epidemiological SIS model where one consider a very general heterogeneous population. In the present setting each individual has a type x belonging to a general space, and a vaccination strategy is a function $\eta$ where $\eta$(x) $\in$ [0, 1] represents the proportion of non-vaccinated among individuals of type x. We shall consider two loss functions associated to a vaccination strategy $\eta$: either the effective reproduction number, a classical quantity appearing in many models in epidemiology, and which is given here by the spectral radius of a compact operator that depends on $\eta$; or the overall proportion of infected individuals after vaccination in the maximal endemic state.By considering the weak-* topology on the set $\Delta$ of vaccination strategies, so that it is a compact set, we can prove that those two loss functions are continuous using the notion of collective compactness for a family of operators. We also prove their stability with respect to the parameters of the SIS model. Eventually, we consider their monotonicity and related properties in particular when the model is ``almost'' irreducible.