The research and development process for multiscale models of infectious disease systems
Fig 1
A schematic diagram of the resolution of an infectious disease system into the three sub-systems.
(a) The host sub-system which consists of seven main levels (i) the cell level, (ii) the tissue level, (iii) the organ level, (iv) the microecosystem level, (v) the host/organism level, (vi) the community level, and (vii) the macroecosystem level. (b) The environmental sub-system which consists of two main levels of organization which are the inside-host environmental level and the outside-host environmental level (or community level). The outside-host environmental level (or community level) has three sub-levels which are (i) the local community level, (ii) the territorial community level, and (iii) the regional community level. (c) The pathogen sub-system which in its functional role consists of two main levels of organization, with each level being the same as a scale which are (i) the single pathogen species/strain level/scale and (ii) the multiple pathogen species/strains level/scale. However, in circumstances where there is horizontal gene transfer, the pathogen sub-system would consist of (i) the single pathogen species/strain level and (ii) the multiple pathogen species/strains level. In this Figure, we did not illustrate this structural role of the pathogen sub-system in order keep it simple.