Stochastic Model of Dengue: Analysing the Probability of Extinction and LLN ()
1. Introduction
Dengue, a viral disease spread by mosquitoes, has spread to become endemic worldwide [1]. The dengue virus is spread by female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes [2]. The dengue virus, belonging to the flavivirus genus, is divided into four serotypes: DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4 [3] [4]. The danger of this disease lies primarily in its ability to affect nearly all age groups, from infants to adults, and to re-emerge rapidly in nearly all human populations [5]. This disease, after malaria, is considered one of the most dangerous [6]. The disease can also lead to significant economic losses, hindering development. For instance, during the 2011 epidemic, countries in Latin America and Asia experienced estimated losses of $12 million USD and $6.75 million USD respectively. In Thailand alone, tourist revenues plummeted by $363 million USD during the tourist season due to the epidemic [7] [8]. Although measures have been implemented to combat dengue fever [9]-[12], this disease remains without an effective treatment [13]. Therefore, understanding the transmission dynamics of this disease is of paramount importance, prompting researchers to focus on studying it. Proposals have been put forward for deterministic models of dengue fever [14]-[16], which, while providing informative results and forecasts, have limitations in predicting future dynamics. To enhance realism, research has turned to stochastic models associated with dengue fever [17]-[21]. Introducing random variations is a commonly used method to depict phenomena where a quantity is subject to constant but varying slight fluctuations. However, it’s important to note that Brownian motion cannot account for the effects of intense and sudden external disturbances such as climate change, floods, earthquakes, or tornadoes [22] [23]. This is why Driss Kiouach and colleagues proposed a stochastic model incorporating Lvy jumps to study the average extinction and persistence of dengue fever [5]. To the best of our knowledge, continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) models for dengue are scarce. In this study, we develop a stochastic CTMC and multi-type branching process of Galton-Watson model. Continuous-time Markov chains (CTMC) are particularly suitable for modeling dengue, as transitions between the states of susceptible, infected, and recovered, as well as interactions between humans and mosquitoes, occur continuously and randomly over time. Additionally, the duration of the incubation and infectious phases can vary significantly from one person to another. Regarding multi-type Galton-Watson branching processes, they are used to represent successive generations of infections and to estimate the probability of epidemic extinction or the probability that the epidemic will persist and spread. This is crucial for understanding and anticipating the resurgence of dengue. Moreover, we use the Law of Large Numbers to demonstrate that stochastic models of dengue converge to their deterministic counterparts when the population is sufficiently large. This validates the use of deterministic models for large populations in the context of dengue.
The article is structured as follows: In Section 2, we review the definitions of the parameters of the base model. Section 3 focuses on the analysis of the proposed CTMC model. In Section 4, we present the probabilistic model and highlight the law of large numbers. Finally, Section 5 comprises numerical simulations of the proposed model to evaluate the results.
2. Recall of the Baseline Deterministic Model
For the convenience of the reader, we briefly recap the main results of the baseline model [24]. The compartments
and
represent respectively the total number of susceptible, infected, and recovered individuals during the epidemic. The acronyms
and
denote the population sizes of humans and mosquitoes respectively. The system of ordinary differential equations of the model is given by:
(1)
The description of parameters in model system (1) is given by the following Table 1.
Table 1. Model parameters and their interpretations.
Name |
Description |
Value |
λH |
is the actual contact rate between susceptible humans and mosquitoes |
0.5 |
γH |
the recovery rate of humans from dengue |
0.4 |
αH |
represents the death rate of humans induced by dengue |
0.1 |
μH |
is the natural mortality rate of humans |
0.2 |
λm |
is the actual contact rate between susceptible mosquitoes and humans |
0.21 |
μm |
is the natural mortality rate of mosquitoes |
0.2 |
Let us now introduce the proportions
(2)
Then, we obtain the following equalities
and
.
3. Stochastic Model for Dengue
3.1. Continuous Time Markov Chain Model Formulation
In this section, we formulate the CTMC (Continuous-Time Markov Chain) model of the deterministic model developed in [24]. To simplify, we retain the same notations for the random variables and parameters as those used in the deterministic model. The variables
,
,
,
and
are now discrete, and t is in
. Set
and
. The transition probabilities associated with the model (1) are given by
(3)
where,
We choose
small enough so that all these quantities are between 0 and 1. The associated matrix is stochastic.
3.2. The Bienaymé-Galton-Watson Branching Process (BGWbp)
Here, we recall some concepts about branching process theory and apply it to our model to find the disease invasion and extinction probabilities. We start by defining a Bienaymé-Galton-Watson branching process as described in [25]-[27].
Definition 3.1. [27] A multitype BGWbp
is a collection of vector random variables
, where each vector consists of l different types,
and each random variable
has l associated offspring random variables for the number of offsprings of type
from a parent of type i.
The offspring probability generating function (pgf)
, for type i given
and
,
, is defined as
(4)
where
is the probability that one infected individual of type i gives birth to
individuals of type j and there is always a fixed point at
.
denotes the probability of extinction for
given that
and
for all other types.
We define the expectation matrix
as an
, non negative and irreducible matrix where the entry
is the expected number of offsprings of individuals of type j produced by an infective individual of type i. The elements of matrix M are calculated from Equation (4) by differentiating
with respect to
and then evaluating all the
variables at 1, that is,
(5)
See [28]-[30] for details. The following theorem summarizes the conditions for the probability of extinction or persistence of dengue.
Theorem 3.1. Let the initial sizes for each type be
,
. Consider the generating functions
for each of the l types are non-linear functions of
with some
and suppose that the expectation matrix
is an
non negative and irreducible matrix, and
is the spectral radius of matrix M.
1) If
or
(sub critical and critical case respectively), then the probability of ultimate extinction is one:
(6)
2) If
(supercritical case), then the probability of ultimate disease extinction is less than one:
(7)
where
is the unique fixed point of the k offspring pgf,
and
,
[31]. The value of
is the probability of disease extinction for infectious of type i and the probability of an outbreak is approximately
3.3. Extinction Probabilities for Dengue
In stochastic epidemic theory, it is feasible to predict the onset and cessation of a disease based on the initial number of infected individuals. According to Lloyd et al. [32], an
greater than one does not guarantee the persistence of the infection in a fully susceptible population. Unlike deterministic models, stochastic models demonstrate that even with a low initial number of infected individuals, disease extinction is possible. In such cases, stochastic models predict a minor epidemic, whereas deterministic models consistently predict a major epidemic. At the beginning of the epidemic, the decrease in the number of susceptible individuals is negligible, allowing for the estimation of invasion probabilities using a linear model. This approach, assuming that the entire population is susceptible [33] [34], often employs the theory of Galton-Watson branching processes with multiple types to calculate these probabilities [33]. In this theory, individuals in the population are classified into different types and act independently of each other.
The rest of this section, the probabilities of extinction and epidemic outbreaks are determined using probability generating functions, where we seek the fixed points of the system for each infectious type. We assume that the susceptible populations are at disease-free equilibrium (DFE), and the branching process is linear near this equilibrium and time-homogeneous. The stochastic threshold can be approximated using a two-type BGWbp. Infected humans are referred to as type 1, and mosquitoes as type 2. Therefore, the offspring pgf for type 1 humans is given by
Likewise, in the case of type 2 mosquitoes, we have
Now we can compute the expectation matrix using the offspring probabilities. The individual elements of the matrix, denoted as
, are given by
(8)
and therefore, the expectation matrix is given by
(9)
where
(10)
The eigenvalues of matrix M are the roots of the characteristic equation
(11)
The spectral radius
of matrix M obtained from Equation (11) is given by
(12)
where
The probability of ultimate disease extinction is one if
. This means
(13)
which reduces to
(14)
In the context of disease dynamics, especially for diseases where the basic reproductive number
(or
), there is a positive probability of a major epidemic occurring. This probability is associated with a fixed point of the offspring probability generating functions (pgfs) on the interval
.
To find this fixed point, denoted as
, we solve the following system of equations
and
.
Here,
and
represent the offspring probability generating functions (pgfs) corresponding to infected human and mosquito populations, respectively. These functions describe the probabilities of ultimate disease extinction for each population. The fixed point
gives us the probabilities that the infected human and mosquito populations will eventually die out.
The trivial fixed point
(where both
and
) always represents complete extinction of both infected populations. However, for
, there may exist another non-trivial fixed point
where
. This non-trivial fixed point corresponds to a scenario where the disease persists in the population. So, let’s consider that
and solve the following system of equations.
(15)
Expressing
in terms of
in Equation (15) gives
(16)
Substituting the Equation (16) into Equation (15) and simplifying, we derive the quadratic equation.
(17)
where
(18)
Solving Equation (17) for
and then substituting its expression in Equation (15) yields the following expressions for
and
:
(19)
We express
and
in terms of the basic reproduction number (11) to obtain
(20)
The probability
can be interpreted epidemiologically as follows: an infected human will transmit the disease to a susceptible mosquito with a probability
or die or recover before transmitting the disease with probability
. Similarly, the probability
has the following interpretation: an infected mosquito will transmit the disease to a susceptible human with a probability
or die before transmitting the disease with probability
. If transmission of the disease from the mosquito to the human is successful, then the probability that the infected mosquito transmits the disease to another susceptible mosquito is
.
We calculate the probability of disease extinction using
and
. If
and
represent the initial sizes of infected humans and infected mosquitoes respectively, then the probability of disease extinction is approximate
(21)
Therefore, the probability of a major disease outbreak
is expressed as follows.
(22)
4. Law of Large Numbers
Following the same principles as those presented by É. Pardoux in [35], we propose a probabilistic model of dengue. We denote by
,
and
standard mutually independent Poisson processes. Let’s suppose that each death coincides with a birth and set
The evolution system of
becomes
(23)
The processes
,
and
being standard mutually independent Poisson processes, we define
,
and
.
Hence
(24)
where
(25)
Let’s consider the processes
(26)
Let
Lemma 4.1. The
, are a
-martingale which satisfy
,
,
and
(27)
Proof. Let’s demonstrate the case of
; the remainder follows similarly. The martingale property of
follows from the fact that for all
(28)
□
We now establish that identity. For
, let
Let
, and
(29)
For all
if
, then let
, and
. We have
By applying the Riemann sum, we get
Hence
Therefore,
(30)
As n tends to infinity, we obtain (28). The martingale property implies that
. Now we are going to focus on the expression of
.
For all
, for all natural number
, and for all
, we define
,
we have
a discretion of the interval
.
because
(31)
and
(32)
As
,
where
denotes the jump of the process
at time r. So
Indeed, as soon as
, since
,
Hence
is a bounded martingale in
, then
uniformly integrable. But
This equality is justified by the properties of the martingale
.
This completes the demonstration.
Now we are going to state a proposition that will be used subsequently.
Proposition 4.1. Let
be a rate
Poisson process. Then
a.s. as
.
Proof.
,
,
Since,
,
follows a Poisson distribution with parameter
.
For all
Likewise
Hence the result. □
Corollary 4.1. As
,
,
,
in probability.
Proposition 4.2. As
,
,
,
a.s.
Proof. Proof We consider the term
. Since the proportions
and
take values in the interval
, we have
then
The Law of Large Numbers for Poisson processes (see below) tell us that for all
,
We have a sequence of increasing functions that converges to a continuous function. Therefore, according to the second Dini’s theorem, this convergence is uniform over any compact interval in
.
,
a.s.
The other cases are demonstrated similarly. This completes the proof. □
Theorem 4.1. Law of Large Numbers.
If
a.s
and
, then
where
is the unique solution of the ODE
(33)
where
Proof. Define
(34)
(35)
and finally
For
and
,
we have
where
is a constant depending on
,
,
,
,
and
. We have
From Proposition 1, for all
,
a.s. as
,
. Let
. We have
It then follows from Gronwall’s Lemma that
The result then follows from the assumption
, plus the fact that
a.s.
,
. □
5. Numerical Simulations of the Stochastic Model
5.1. Numeric Simulation of CTMC Model
In this section, we examine the disease dynamics using the stochastic model, utilizing the parameter values listed in Table 1. The multi-type branching process assumes that the susceptible populations are sufficiently large and are at disease-free equilibrium. Thus, the initial conditions for susceptible human hosts and mosquitoes are as follows:
and
respectively and the initial conditions for the infectious are respectively
and
.
In Figure 1, the basic reproduction number is
, and the probability of a major outbreak is given by
.
Figure 1. CTMC trajectories for dengue extinction.
Remark 5.1. The stochastic model allows for determining not only the extinction of a disease or the emergence of an epidemic but also the probability of these events. This is achieved by applying the theory of multitype branching processes, particularly when the epidemic starts with a small number of infected individuals, a scenario that deterministic models cannot address (Allen and van den Driessche 2013). The stochastic model suggests that it’s possible for the disease to die out, as depicted in Figure 1, while the deterministic model guarantees that the dengue epidemic will occur.
5.2. Highlighting the Law of Large Numbers
In this section, we highlight the law of large numbers by varying the population size in an increasing manner and observing the behaviour of each curve for the two models (deterministic model and stochastic model).
Figure 2 and Figure 3 demonstrate the Law of Large Numbers for
,
,
, and
respectively.
Figure 2. Illustrating the law of large numbers for
and
.
Figure 3. Demonstration of the law of large numbers for
and
.
Remark 5.2. As
and
become larger and larger, the amplitude of variations in the curves of the stochastic model depicted in Figure 2 and Figure 3 becomes almost negligible. In other words, the stochastic model converges towards the deterministic model. Thus, the Law of Large Numbers is satisfied.
6. Conclusion
In this article, we formulated and analysed a continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) model, exploring the asymptotic behaviour of the stochastic model for large populations using the Law of Large Numbers (LLN). Our main finding is that disease extinction is possible when
exceeds one, and we determined the population threshold beyond which a deterministic model becomes suitable. In the context of a dengue epidemic, the corresponding stochastic model is applicable for small population sizes. However, for very large populations, transitioning to the deterministic model simplifies the study complexities. Nevertheless, several intriguing topics remain unexplored. As dengue fever spreads, individuals accumulate infection-related knowledge. Therefore, our future research aims to investigate the impact of memory on our model dynamics using new generalized and fractal fractional derivatives, as well as a novel numerical method for solving EDFs with the GHF derivative, introduced by Khalid Hattaf et al. in [36] and [37].
Acknowledgements
Sincere thanks to the members of JAMP for their professional performance, and special thanks to managing editor Hellen XU for a rare attitude of high quality.