On a fractional order Ebola epidemic model

Abstract

Ebola is a world health problem and with a recent outbreak. There exist different models in the literature to predict its behavior, most of them based on data coming from previous outbreaks or using restricted number of persons in the population variable. This paper deals both with classical and fractional order SEIR (susceptible, exposed, infections, removed) Ebola epidemic model and its comparison with real data extracted from the reports periodically published by the World Health Organization (WHO), starting from March 27th, 2014. As it has been shown in the literature, one physical meaning of the fractional order in fractional derivatives is that of index of memory; and therefore, it seems to be useful for epidemic models, as in this paper. The number of confirmed cases by the WHO in its reports is used for our analysis and estimation of the parameters in our classical and fractional SEIR models. Our approach gives a good approximation to real data. Following our results, the current outbreak will continue for approximately two years, assuming that no new outbreak appears at a different community or country. Our estimates give a number of the order nine million confirmed cases.