Fig. 1

Conceptual illustration showing the effect of different latent periods. In the upper panel, the host becomes infectious 12 h after receiving the infection, at which point he has entered a more sedentary phase of his daily schedule. The symptoms of the infection influence him to avoid returning to his school or workplace and no further transmission occurs. In the lower panel, the infectious period begins at the same time of the day that he received the infection. While the symptoms of the disease may result in social withdrawal, there is a period of time for which he is both infectious and socially active, giving the disease an opportunity to spread