Model Selection and Evaluation Based on Emerging Infectious Disease Data Sets including A/H1N1 and Ebola

Liu, Wendi; Tang, Sanyi; Xiao, Yanni

The most common approach in infective disease data analyses with simply ODE model is to select one model, usually Richards model, based on the shape of the desired curve and on biological assumptions. A single wave of infections consisting of a single peak of high incidence, an S-shaped cumulative epidemic curve, and a single turning point of an outbreak can be the best fitting to data using the selected model. Inference and estimation of parameters and their precision are based on the fitted model. Therefore, the interesting questions would be as follows: Can Richards model effectively predict the growth of the cumulative infected population? How to select the best model for fitting the emerging infectious diseases data? Is it possible to predict the turning point and final size and effectively estimate the basic reproduction number which are quite important in the disease control and management?