I have a MultiIndex container of boost::shared_ptrs to members of class Host. These members contain private arrays bool infections[NUM_SEROTYPES] revealing Hosts' infection statuses with respect to each of 1,...,NUM_SEROTYPES serotypes. I want to be able to determine at any time in the simulation the number of people infected with a given serotype, but I'm not sure how:

• Ideally, Boost MultiIndex would allow me to sort, for example, by Host::isInfected( int s ), where s is the serotype of interest. From what I understand, MultiIndex key extractors aren't allowed to take arguments.
• An alternative would be to define an index for each serotype, but I don't see how to write the MultiIndex container typedef ... in such an extensible way. I will be changing the number of serotypes between simulations. (Do experienced programmers think this should be possible? I'll attempt it if so.)
• There are 2^(NUM_SEROTYPES) possible infection statuses. For small numbers of serotypes, I could use a single index based on this number (or a binary string) and come up with some mapping from this key to actual infection status. Counting is still darn slow.
• I could maintain a separate structure counting the total numbers of infecteds with each serotype. The synchrony is a bit of a pain, but the memory is fine. I would prefer a slicker option, since I would like to do further sorts on other host attributes (e.g., after counting the number infected with serotype s, count the number of those infected who are also in a particular household and have a particular age).

Thanks in advance.