Optimizing Interventions for Agent-Based Infectious Disease Simulations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wolpers, Anja, Ponge, Johannes, Uhrmacher, Adelinde M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Wolpers, Anja
Ponge, Johannes
Uhrmacher, Adelinde M.
author_facet Wolpers, Anja
Ponge, Johannes
Uhrmacher, Adelinde M.
contents Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are commonly used tools for controlling infectious disease transmission when pharmaceutical options are unavailable. Yet, identifying effective interventions that minimize societal disruption remains challenging. Agent-based simulation is a popular tool for analyzing the impact of possible interventions in epidemiology. However, automatically optimizing NPIs using agent-based simulations poses a complex problem because, in agent-based epidemiological models, interventions can target individuals based on multiple attributes, affect hierarchical group structures (e.g., schools, workplaces, and families), and be combined arbitrarily, resulting in a very large or even infinite search space. We aim to support decision-makers with our Agent-based Infectious Disease Intervention Optimization System (ADIOS) that optimizes NPIs for infectious disease simulations using Grammar-Guided Genetic Programming (GGGP). The core of ADIOS is a domain-specific language for expressing NPIs in agent-based simulations that structures the intervention search space through a context-free grammar. To make optimization more efficient, the search space can be further reduced by defining constraints that prevent the generation of semantically invalid intervention patterns. Using this constrained language and an interface that enables coupling with agent-based simulations, ADIOS adopts the GGGP approach for simulation-based optimization. Using the German Epidemic Micro-Simulation System (GEMS) as a case study, we demonstrate the potential of our approach to generate optimal interventions for realistic epidemiological models
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_02016
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Optimizing Interventions for Agent-Based Infectious Disease Simulations
Wolpers, Anja
Ponge, Johannes
Uhrmacher, Adelinde M.
Multiagent Systems
Artificial Intelligence
I.6; J.3
Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) are commonly used tools for controlling infectious disease transmission when pharmaceutical options are unavailable. Yet, identifying effective interventions that minimize societal disruption remains challenging. Agent-based simulation is a popular tool for analyzing the impact of possible interventions in epidemiology. However, automatically optimizing NPIs using agent-based simulations poses a complex problem because, in agent-based epidemiological models, interventions can target individuals based on multiple attributes, affect hierarchical group structures (e.g., schools, workplaces, and families), and be combined arbitrarily, resulting in a very large or even infinite search space. We aim to support decision-makers with our Agent-based Infectious Disease Intervention Optimization System (ADIOS) that optimizes NPIs for infectious disease simulations using Grammar-Guided Genetic Programming (GGGP). The core of ADIOS is a domain-specific language for expressing NPIs in agent-based simulations that structures the intervention search space through a context-free grammar. To make optimization more efficient, the search space can be further reduced by defining constraints that prevent the generation of semantically invalid intervention patterns. Using this constrained language and an interface that enables coupling with agent-based simulations, ADIOS adopts the GGGP approach for simulation-based optimization. Using the German Epidemic Micro-Simulation System (GEMS) as a case study, we demonstrate the potential of our approach to generate optimal interventions for realistic epidemiological models
title Optimizing Interventions for Agent-Based Infectious Disease Simulations
topic Multiagent Systems
Artificial Intelligence
I.6; J.3
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.02016