Hybrid Modeling of Ebola Propagation

Proc IEEE Int Symp Bioinformatics Bioeng. 2019 Oct:2019:204-210. doi: 10.1109/bibe.2019.00044. Epub 2019 Dec 26.

Abstract

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic that occurred in West Africa between 2014-16 resulted in over 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths - one of the deadliest to date. A generalized model of the spatiotemporal progression of EVD for Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone in 2014-16 remains elusive. There is also a disconnect in the literature on which interventions are most effective in curbing disease progression. To solve these two key issues, we designed a hybrid agent-based and compartmental model that switches from one paradigm to the other on a stochastic threshold. We modeled disease progression with promising accuracy using WHO datasets.