Probabilistic calibration and short‐term prediction of the prevalence herpes simplex type 2: A transmission dynamics modelling approach.

An epidemiological model is proposed to study the transmission dynamics of the herpes virus type 2, a sexually transmitted infectious disease. This model considers two states, susceptible and infected, divides the population into sexes, assumes only heterosexual contacts and includes different transmission rates depending on whether the transmission is woman–man or man–woman. Reported and prevalence series data are retrieved from several sources. We consider the inherent data survey errors and the sensitivity of the diagnosis tests (data uncertainty). To calibrate the model to the available data and their uncertainty, a novel technique is proposed in two steps: (1) the application of the estimation of distribution algorithm (EDA) to find sets of model parameter values close to the data uncertainty and (2) the application of a selection algorithm to get a reduced number of model parameter values whose model outputs capture accurately the data uncertainty. Then, we check its robustness, and we provide a prediction of the evolution of the infected over the next 4 years. From the technical point of view, we conclude that the proposed technique to calibrate probabilistically the model is reliable and robust. Also, it is able to provide confidence intervals for the model parameter values and the predictions. From the medical point of view, the model returns that the transmission woman–man is higher than the man–woman, according to recent literature, and there is a mild increasing trend in the number of infected people over the next years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]