Comparison of stochastic and deterministic frameworks in dengue modelling

We perform estimations of compartment models for dengue transmission in rural Cambodia with increasing complexity regarding both model structure and the account for stochasticity. On the one hand, we successively account for three embedded sources of stochasticity: observation noise, demographic variability and environmental hazard. On the other hand, complexity in the model structure is increased by introducing vector-borne transmission, explicit asymptomatic infections and interacting virus serotypes. Using two sources of case data from dengue epidemics in Kampong Cham (Cambodia), models are estimated in the bayesian framework, with Markov Chain Monte Carlo and Particle Markov Chain Monte Carlo. We highlight the advantages and drawbacks of the different formulations in a practical setting. Although in this case the deterministic models provide a good approximation of the mean trajectory for a low computational cost, the stochastic frameworks better reflect and account for parameter and simulation uncertainty.