A comparison between a deterministic, compartmental model and an individual based-stochastic model for simulating the transmission dynamics of pandemic influenza

Simulation models are often used in the research area of epidemiology to understand characteristics of disease outbreaks. As a result, they are used by authorities to better design intervention methods and to better plan the allocation of medical resources. Previous work make use of many different types of simulation models with an agent-based model, e.g., Taiwan simulation system, and an equation-based model, e.g., AsiaFluCap simulation system, being the two most popular ones. Some comparison studies has been attempted in the past to understand the limits, efficiency, and usability of some model. However, there was little studies to justify why one model is used instead of the other. In this paper, instead of studying the two most popular models one by one, we try to do a comparative study between these two most popular ones. By observing that one model can outperform the other in some cases, and vice versa, we hence study conditions that which one should be used. Furthermore, previous studies show little results in the issue of allocating medical resources. Our paper studies and compares the two models using medical resources allocation as one of our primary concerns. As a conclusion, we come out with a general guideline to help model designers to pick one that fits the given needs better.