INSIDe - Integrative modelling of the spread of serious infectious diseases

(INtegrative modeling of the spread of Serious Infectious Diseases)

Project goal:

Development of a software platform as an early warning system for infection outbreaks of pathogens detectable in wastewater and for simulating the spread of disease under different conditions.

Background:

Public health crises, such as the Corona pandemic, require decisive political action. To contain the spread of the disease and prevent overloading of the health system, governments can take a range of measures of varying intensity, from voluntary social distancing of individuals to mandatory shutdown of the country. In order to take effective and at the same time appropriate measures during infectious disease outbreaks such as the Corona pandemic, policy makers need excellent information on the incidence of infection.
For the vast majority of infectious diseases, however, the information base is lacking, as officially reported case numbers are often not representative due to the lack of availability or reliability of tests to detect the infection. Even extensive testing campaigns, such as during the Corona pandemic, are usually not sufficient to obtain a clear picture of a disease outbreak and its course.
Wastewater is a data source independent of tests and officially reported case numbers, in which a lot of information on pathogens can be found. Our goal is to develop a software platform with which we can simulate the spread of infectious diseases detectable in wastewater and detect infectious outbreaks at an early stage. In addition, the platform should enable the simulation of the spread of disease under different conditions in order to be able to assess the effects of possible measures or test strategies on the incidence of infection.
To achieve this goal, scientists from the University of Bonn, the hostpital of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the University of the Federal Armed Forces, the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the company Tandler will closely collaborate.

The project consists of five work packages:
Subproject 1: INSIDe platform
Subproject 2: Epidemiological models
Subproject 3: Detailed sewer network models
Subproject 4: Coarse-mesh sewer network models
Subproject 5: Data collection

Contact: Dr. Christina Fricke, inside@uni-bonn.de