Figure 1
From: Modeling influenza epidemics and pandemics: insights into the future of swine flu (H1N1)
Compartmental SIR model of disease transmission. The population is partitioned into three classes: Susceptible (S), Infectious (I), and Recovered (R). Individuals who become infected proceed from class S to class I at a rate which depends on the infectiousness of the virus and the prevalence of infection. Infectious individuals recover and move to class R, at which point they are immune to future infection. The model can be straightforwardly extended to include immunity which wanes over time.