Multi-agent systems for epidemiology: Example of an agent-based simulation platform for schistosomiasis

Abstract

In this paper, we show the convenience of multi-agent systems to help computational epidemiology come to the rescue of mathematical epidemiology for its practical limits on modeling and simulation of complex epidemiological phenomena. Herein, we propose as an example, an agent-based simulation platform for schistosomiasis (commonly known as Bilharzia, which is a parasitic disease found in tropical and subtropical areas and caused by a tapeworm called schistosome or bilharzias) that we have experimented with actual data of schistosomiasis in Niamey (Niger).