One of the most basic procedures in the modeling of diseases is to use a compartmental model, in which the population is

divided into different groups. The SIR model is used in epidemiology to compute the amount of susceptible, infected, and
recovered people in a population. The variation in the number of people needing medical attention during an epidemic can
also be calculated using this model. However, this model does not work with all diseases. The SIR model is only appropriate
when a person that recovers from the disease receives lifelong immunity.
Assumptions
The SIR Model is used in epidemiology to compute the amount of susceptible, infected, recovered people in a population.
This model is an appropriate one to use under the following assumptions [3]:
1) The population is fixed.
2) Age, sex, social status, and race do not affect the probability of being infected.
3) There is no inherited immunity.
4) The member of the population mix homogeneously (have the same interactions with one another to the same degree).
In the SIR model, members of a population are categorized into one of three groups: those who are susceptible to being
infected, those who have been infected and are able to spread the disease to susceptible individuals, and those who have
recovered from the disease and are immune to subsequent re-infection.
Movement of individuals is one-way only,
, and the two fundamental parameters of the model, 'b' (the daily
infection rate) and 'gamma' (the recovery rate), act as rate constants that control how fast members progress into the and
groups, respectively. A composite parameter, Ko, is often used and is referred to as the contact number. The SIR model is
described by the differential equations
.
and refer to the fraction of the population in the susceptible and infected groups, respectively.
The ratio (gamma/beta) is called the contact number. It signifies the average number of susceptible members of the
population an infected individual spreads the disease to, while that individual is in the infected group. Under certain initial
conditions, the probability of an epidemic taking place could be related to the contact number. The transition between
epidemic and non-epidemic states occurs when the initial fraction of the population in the susceptible group is equal to the
reciprocal of the contact number.
1/gamma is the duration Gamma is the recovery rate and can be be indirectly introduced as the more accessible duration of
the disease .
When initial conditions for these groups are specified, the change in size of these groups may be plotted over time. An
analysis of the equations reveals that the fraction of the population in the infected group is initially increasing (i.e.,
at
), an epidemic has begun. The transition between an epidemic and a non-epidemic spread of a disease thus occurs
when
.

The model is also used by researchers and health officials to explain the increase and decrease in people needing medical
care for a certain disease during an epidemic. From numbers generated by the SIR model researchers health officials can
calculate different numbers that allow them to see if policies are effective and if occurrence of the disease is increasing,
decreasing, or stable.
Disadvantages :
However, the SIR model has some serious disadvantageous. The population has to be fixed and the population needs to mix
homogeneously. The model does not take into account any variation in the disease among people of different sexes, races, or
ages.