Superensemble forecasts of dengue outbreaks

Abstract

In recent years, a number of systems capable of predicting future infectious disease incidence have been developed. As more of these systems are operationalized, it is important that the forecasts generated by these different approaches be formally reconciled so that individual forecast error and bias are reduced. Here we present a first example of such multi-system, or superensemble, forecast. We develop three distinct systems for predicting dengue, which are applied retrospectively to forecast outbreak characteristics in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We then use Bayesian averaging methods to combine the predictions from these systems and create superensemble forecasts. We demonstrate that on average, the superensemble approach produces more accurate forecasts than those made from any of the individual forecasting systems.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2016
Source ID
10.1098/rsif.2016.0410

Entities

People

  • Jeffrey Shaman
  • Sasikiran Kandula
  • Teresa K. Yamana

Organizations

  • Defense Threat Reduction Agency
  • National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
  • National Institutes of Health

Tags

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Infectious Disease/Epidemiology
  • Regression Analysis.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Bayesian Inference