Inferring country-specific import risk of diseases from the world air transportation network

TL;DR

This paper introduces an import risk model based on the world air transportation network to estimate the likelihood of disease cases arriving in different countries, aiding early outbreak response decisions.

Contribution

The study develops a novel import risk model using effective-distance and shortest path analysis, outperforming existing mobility models in predicting disease importation risk.

Findings

Model outperforms radiation and gravity models in risk estimation

Increases in accuracy with more connected countries

Reveals a geographic distance-dependence in disease spread

Abstract

Disease propagation between countries strongly depends on their effective distance, a measure derived from the world air transportation network (WAN). It reduces the complex spreading patterns of a pandemic to a wave-like propagation from the outbreak country, i.e. a linear relationship to the arrival time of the unmitigated spread of a disease. However, in the early stage of an outbreak, what matters to countries' decision makers is knowledge about the relative risk of arrival of active cases, i.e. how likely it is that an active case that boarded at the outbreak location will arrive in their country. As accurate mechanistic models to estimate such risks are still lacking, we propose here the ``import risk'' model that defines an import probability by means of the effective-distance framework. The model assumes that airline passengers are distributed along the shortest path tree that starts at the outbreak's origin. In combination with a random walk, we account for all possible paths, thus inferring predominant connecting flights. Our model outperforms other mobility models, such as the radiation and gravity model with varying distance types, and it improves further if additional geographic information is included. The import risk model's precision increases for countries that are more connected within the WAN, and recovers a geographic distance-dependence that suggests a pull- rather than a push- dynamic of the distribution process.