Ebola Outbreak Epidemic Problem: In the fall of 2000, an epidemic of the ebola virus

Chapter 7, Problem 5

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Ebola Outbreak Epidemic Problem: In the fall of 2000, an epidemic of the ebola virus broke out in the Gulu district of Uganda. The table shows the total number of people infected from the day the cases were diagnosed as ebola virus infections. The final number of people who got infected during this epidemic is 396. (Ebola is a virus that causes internal bleeding and is fatal in most cases.) x (days) y (total infections) 1 71 10 182 15 239 21 281 30 321 50 370 74 394 a. Make a plot of the data points. Imagine a function that fits the data. Is the graph of this function concave upward or downward? b. Use the second and last points to find the particular equation of a logistic function that fits the data. c. Plot on the same screen as the plot in part a the logistic function from part b. Sketch the results. d. Where does the point of inflection occur in the logistic model? What is the real-world meaning of this point? e. Based on the logistic model, how many people were infected after 40 days? elsewhere to find data about other epidemics. Try to model the spread of the epidemic for which you found data.