EPIGUI: Graphical User Interface for Simulating Epidemics on Networks

Abstract

This paper presents a graphical interface called EPIGUI, which allows the study of the dynamics of an infectious disease spread using compartmental models in combination with complex networks. This interface aims at considering stochastic factors that govern the evolution of an infection in a network. Moreover, it provides simple tools to create networks of agents and to define the epidemiological parameters of outbreaks. There are six common infectious disease models (SI, SIS, SIR, SIRS, SEIR, and SEIRS) or a user can provide another model, combining compartments. Moreover, in the simulations the user can either include a synthetic network generated according to a network model (random, small-world, scale-free, modular, or hierarchical) or a real network. This approach can help understand the paths followed by outbreaks in a given community and design new strategies to prevent and to control them.