Complex agent networks explaining the HIV epidemic among homosexual men in Amsterdam
Simulating the spreading of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic requires a detailed description of the population network, especially for small populations in which individuals can be represented in detail and accuracy. In this paper, we introduce the concept of a complex agent network (CAN) to model the HIV epidemic by combining multi-agent systems and complex networks, in which agents represent individuals who can have sexual interactions. The applicability of CANs is demonstrated by constructing and executing a detailed HIV epidemic model for men who have sex with men (MSM) in Amsterdam, including a distinction between steady and casual relationships. We focus on MSM contacts because they play an important role in HIV epidemics and have been tracked in Amsterdam for a long time. Our experiments show good correspondence between the historical data of the Amsterdam cohort study and the simulation results. (C) 2009 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
hiv epidemics men who have sex with men (msm) multi-agent systems (mas) complex networks (cns) scale-free