Probabilistic predictions of SIS epidemics on networks based on population-level observations

TL;DR

This paper introduces a probabilistic prediction framework for SIS epidemic spread on networks using population-level data, employing a surrogate model and Bayesian inference to quantify uncertainty and accurately predict epidemic trajectories.

Contribution

It develops a low-dimensional surrogate model based on birth-and-death processes that captures epidemic stochasticity and incorporates network class uncertainty through Bayesian inference.

Findings

Prediction intervals effectively quantify uncertainty.

Accurate network class identification improves predictions.

Model performs well with minimal, infrequent data.

Abstract

We predict the future course of ongoing susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) epidemics on regular, Erd\H{o}s-R\'{e}nyi and Barab\'asi-Albert networks. It is known that the contact network influences the spread of an epidemic within a population. Therefore, observations of an epidemic, in this case at the population-level, contain information about the underlying network. This information, in turn, is useful for predicting the future course of an ongoing epidemic. To exploit this in a prediction framework, the exact high-dimensional stochastic model of an SIS epidemic on a network is approximated by a lower-dimensional surrogate model. The surrogate model is based on a birth-and-death process; the effect of the underlying network is described by a parametric model for the birth rates. We demonstrate empirically that the surrogate model captures the intrinsic stochasticity of the epidemic once it reaches a point from which it will not die out. Bayesian parameter inference allows for uncertainty about the model parameters and the class of the underlying network to be incorporated directly into probabilistic predictions. An evaluation of a number of scenarios shows that in most cases the resulting prediction intervals adequately quantify the prediction uncertainty. As long as the population-level data is available over a long-enough period, even if not sampled frequently, the model leads to excellent predictions where the underlying network is correctly identified and prediction uncertainty mainly reflects the intrinsic stochasticity of the spreading epidemic. For predictions inferred from shorter observational periods, uncertainty about parameters and network class dominate prediction uncertainty. The proposed method relies on minimal data and is numerically efficient, which makes it attractive either as a standalone inference and prediction scheme or in conjunction with other methods.