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Summary: Review
Sexual networks: implications for the transmission
of sexually transmitted infections
Fredrik Liljeros a,b
, Christofer R. Edling b,c,
*, Luis A. Nunes Amaral d
a
Department of Epidemiology, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, 171 82 Solna, Sweden
b
Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
c
Centre for Epidemiology, The National Board of Health and Welfare, Stockholm, Sweden
d
Interdepartmental Biological Sciences Program, Northwestern University, 2-100 Hogan Hall, 2205 Tech Drive, Evanston, IL 60208-3500, USA
Abstract
The structures of sexual networks are essential for understanding the dynamics of sexually transmitted infections. Standard epidemiologi-
cal models largely disregard the complex patterns of intimate contacts. Social network analysis offers important insight into how to
conceptualize and model social interaction and has the potential to greatly enhance the understanding of disease epidemics.
© 2003 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Disease epidemiology; Sexually transmitted diseases; Social networks; Sociometric techniques
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