Objective: To describe the importance of mathematical models in the understanding of infectious disease transmission dynamics, as well as in the design of effective strategies for control.
Material and methods: International literature was reviewed on the subject through digital means. Around 60 papers about the subject were identified; nevertheless, this study is based on only 27 of these, due to the fact that they were directly related to the subject.
Results: This work presents a brief explanation of the antecedents, importance and classification of mathematical models for infectious diseases. In addition, a detailed description of some classical models is discussed as well as other more recent models used in the modeling of infectious disease.
Conclusions: The use of mathematical models for infectious diseases has grown significantly in the last few years and has proven to be of great help in designing efficient strategies for control and eradication of infectious diseases.