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Output and summarization

Sebastian Lequime

2024-02-09

nosoiSim object

The output of a nosoi simulation is an object of class nosoiSim that contains all the data generated during the simulation into the following slots:

Host-specific elements (i.e. in host.info.A or host.info.B) in this object can be easily extracted using the function getHostData:

getHostData(nosoi.output, what, pop)

This function takes as its arguments your nosoi output object (of class nosoiSim), what you want to extract (either N.infected, table.hosts, table.state or prefix.host), and which host type (here pop) you are interested in (A by default, but can be B in case of dual-host simulations).

table.hosts

table.hosts, a data.table object, contains information about each host that has been simulated. In this object, one row corresponds to one host. This object can be directly extracted using the function getTableHosts:

getTableHosts(nosoi.output, pop)

This function takes as its arguments your nosoi output object (of class nosoiSim) and which host type (here pop) you are interested in (A by default but can be B in case of dual-host simulations).

The structure of the table is the following:

table.state

table.state, a data.table object, contains information about the history of movement of each host that has been simulated. This table is available only if a structured population was simulated (either discrete or continuous). It can be directly extracted using the function getTableState:

getTableState(nosoi.output, pop)

This function takes as its arguments your nosoi output object (of class nosoiSim) and which host type (here pop) you are interested in (A by default but can be B in case of dual-host simulations).

The structure of the table is the following:

Epidemiological insights

By simulating transmission chains, nosoi also simulates an epidemic process. nosoi provides some solutions to easily explore the dynamics of this epidemic process by following through time the number of active infected hosts as well as the cumulative number of infected hosts. It also allows to compute the exact basic reproduction number \(R_0\), defined as the average number of cases one case generates. Since all of the data generated are stored in the output nosoiSim object, more advanced exploration could also be done.

Epidemiological summary

summary is a turnkey solution that computes both the dynamics of the epidemic and \(R_0\). Its only argument is your nosoi output object (of class nosoiSim):

summary(nosoi.output)

It returns a list containing the slots:

Epidemiological dynamics

Both the cumulative and dynamics tables can be directly extracted using the functions getCumulative and getDynamic respectively. Both functions yield a data.table object, but their structures vary slightly. cumulative has the following structure:

dynamics has the following structure:

These can be used to plot the epidemiological dynamics of the simulated transmission chain. Here for example, we simulate a single introduction of a single-host pathogen between 3 different locations/states (named “A”, “B”, and “C”), with constant exit and move probabilities as well as a number of contacts dependent on the location and host count in each location:

library(nosoi)
  t_incub_fct <- function(x){rnorm(x,mean = 5,sd=1)}
  p_max_fct <- function(x){rbeta(x,shape1 = 5,shape2=2)}
  p_Move_fct  <- function(t){return(0.1)}

  p_Exit_fct  <- function(t){return(0.05)}

  proba <- function(t,p_max,t_incub){
    if(t <= t_incub){p=0}
    if(t >= t_incub){p=p_max}
    return(p)
  }

  time_contact <- function(t, current.in, host.count){

    temp.val = 30 - host.count

    if(temp.val <= 0) {
      return(0)
    }
    if(temp.val >= 0) {
      if(current.in=="A"){
        return(round((temp.val/30)*rnorm(1, 3, 1), 0))}
      if(current.in=="B"){return(0)}
      if(current.in=="C"){
        return(round((temp.val/30)*rnorm(1, 6, 1), 0))}
    }
  }

  transition.matrix = matrix(c(0,0.2,0.4,0.5,0,0.6,0.5,0.8,0),nrow = 3, ncol = 3,dimnames=list(c("A","B","C"),c("A","B","C")))

  set.seed(1050)
  test.nosoiA <- nosoiSim(type="single", popStructure="discrete",
                          length=100,
                          max.infected=200,
                          init.individuals=1,
                          init.structure="A",
                          structure.matrix=transition.matrix,
                          pMove=p_Move_fct,
                          param.pMove=NA,
                          diff.nContact=TRUE,
                          hostCount.nContact=TRUE,
                          nContact=time_contact,
                          param.nContact=NA,
                          pTrans = proba,
                          param.pTrans = list(p_max=p_max_fct,
                                              t_incub=t_incub_fct),
                          pExit=p_Exit_fct,
                          param.pExit=NA
  )
library(ggplot2)
cumulative.table <- getCumulative(test.nosoiA)
dynamics.table <- getDynamic(test.nosoiA)

ggplot(data=cumulative.table, aes(x=t, y=Count)) + geom_line() + theme_minimal() + labs(x="Time (t)",y="Cumulative count of infected hosts")

ggplot(data=dynamics.table, aes(x=t, y=Count, color=state)) + geom_line() + theme_minimal() + labs(x="Time (t)",y="Number of active infected hosts")

\(R_0\)

The output nosoiSim object can be used to compute the “real” \(R_0\), defined as the average number of cases one case generates, often estimated in epidemiological studies. The function getRO can be used directly, with the nosoiSim output as its unique argument, to generate a list containing:

Here for example, we simulate a single introduction of a single-host pathogen between 3 different states (named “A”, “B”, and “C”), with a constant exit and move probability as well as a number of contacts dependent of the location and host count in each location:

library(nosoi)
  t_incub_fct <- function(x){rnorm(x,mean = 5,sd=1)}
  p_max_fct <- function(x){rbeta(x,shape1 = 5,shape2=2)}
  p_Move_fct  <- function(t){return(0.1)}

  p_Exit_fct  <- function(t){return(0.05)}

  proba <- function(t,p_max,t_incub){
    if(t <= t_incub){p=0}
    if(t >= t_incub){p=p_max}
    return(p)
  }

  time_contact <- function(t, current.in, host.count){

    temp.val = 30 - host.count

    if(temp.val <= 0) {
      return(0)
    }
    if(temp.val >= 0) {
      if(current.in=="A"){
        return(round((temp.val/30)*rnorm(1, 3, 1), 0))}
      if(current.in=="B"){return(0)}
      if(current.in=="C"){
        return(round((temp.val/30)*rnorm(1, 6, 1), 0))}
    }
  }

  transition.matrix = matrix(c(0,0.2,0.4,0.5,0,0.6,0.5,0.8,0),nrow = 3, ncol = 3,dimnames=list(c("A","B","C"),c("A","B","C")))

  set.seed(1050)
  test.nosoiA <- nosoiSim(type="single", popStructure="discrete",
                          length=100,
                          max.infected=200,
                          init.individuals=1,
                          init.structure="A",
                          structure.matrix=transition.matrix,
                          pMove=p_Move_fct,
                          param.pMove=NA,
                          diff.nContact=TRUE,
                          hostCount.nContact=TRUE,
                          nContact=time_contact,
                          param.nContact=NA,
                          pTrans = proba,
                          param.pTrans = list(p_max=p_max_fct,
                                              t_incub=t_incub_fct),
                          pExit=p_Exit_fct,
                          param.pExit=NA
  )
getR0(test.nosoiA)
#> $N.inactive
#> [1] 117
#> 
#> $R0.mean
#> [1] 1.068376
#> 
#> $R0.dist
#>   [1] 18  4  0  0  0  0  0  0  6  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  6  0  0  0  0  0
#>  [26]  4  0  0  0  0  9  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  3 10  0  2
#>  [51]  1  4  5  0  0  0  1  2  1  0  3  2  0  0  0 11  0  0  0  0  1  0  8  0  1
#>  [76]  0  1  1  0  0  0  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  2  0  3  0  0  1  0  3  0  3
#> [101]  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  1  0  0  1  0  1  2  1  0  0

As you can see, out of the 117 inactive hosts, the mean \(R_0\) is 1.068376. This does not of course reflect the distribution of \(R_0\) where most hosts actually never transmitted the infection:

data = data.frame(R0=getR0(test.nosoiA)$R0.dist)
ggplot(data=data, aes(x=R0)) + geom_histogram() + theme_minimal()

Transmission chains

Full transmission chain

The transmission chain is the main product of a nosoi simulation. It can be extracted or visualized as such using the table.hosts table that links hosts in time. It can also be extracted in a form mimicking a phylogenetic tree, and visualized or saved as such using available tools for phylogenetic trees such as ape and tidytree. To do so, you can use the getTransmissionTree() function, which arguments are the nosoi simulation output and which host type would be the tips of the tree (“A” by default, or “B” in case a dual-host simulation).

Formally, the transmission tree is extracted as a dated phylogenetic tree where:

Such a tree is binary, and has as many tips as the total number of infected hosts, and as many nodes as the number of transmission events. It spans a time going from the first entry of the first host (usually, by convention, 0), to the exiting of the last host.

It can be seen as a proxy to represent the molecular evolution of the pathogen infecting each of the hosts.

getTransmissionTree() extracts the full transmission tree. In case of a big simulated epidemic, this can take some time. It can also be very complicated to plot/visualize.

As an example, we simulate a single introduction of a single-host pathogen between 3 different states (named “A”, “B”, and “C”), with a constant exit and move probability as well as a number of contacts dependent of the location and host count in each location:

library(nosoi)
t_incub_fct <- function(x){rnorm(x,mean = 5,sd=1)}
p_max_fct <- function(x){rbeta(x,shape1 = 5,shape2=2)}
p_Move_fct  <- function(t){return(0.1)}

p_Exit_fct  <- function(t){return(0.05)}

proba <- function(t,p_max,t_incub){
  if(t <= t_incub){p=0}
  if(t >= t_incub){p=p_max}
  return(p)
}

time_contact <- function(t, current.in, host.count){
  
  temp.val = 30 - host.count
  
  if(temp.val <= 0) {
    return(0)
  }
  if(temp.val >= 0) {
    if(current.in=="A"){
      return(round((temp.val/30)*rnorm(1, 3, 1), 0))}
    if(current.in=="B"){return(0)}
    if(current.in=="C"){
      return(round((temp.val/30)*rnorm(1, 6, 1), 0))}
  }
}

transition.matrix <- matrix(c(0,0.2,0.4,0.5,0,0.6,0.5,0.8,0),nrow = 3, ncol = 3,dimnames=list(c("A","B","C"),c("A","B","C")))

set.seed(1050)
test.nosoiA <- nosoiSim(type="single", popStructure="discrete",
                        length=100,
                        max.infected=200,
                        init.individuals=1,
                        init.structure="A",
                        structure.matrix=transition.matrix,
                        pMove=p_Move_fct,
                        param.pMove=NA,
                        diff.nContact=TRUE,
                        hostCount.nContact=TRUE,
                        nContact=time_contact,
                        param.nContact=NA,
                        pTrans = proba,
                        param.pTrans = list(p_max=p_max_fct,
                                            t_incub=t_incub_fct),
                        pExit=p_Exit_fct,
                        param.pExit=NA
)

The simulation runs for 46 time steps and infected 204 hosts. The following transmission tree can thus be extracted (as a tidytree::treedata object) and plotted using ggtree:

test.nosoiA.tree <- getTransmissionTree(test.nosoiA)

if (requireNamespace("ggtree", quietly = TRUE) &&
    requireNamespace("ggplot2", quietly = TRUE)) {
  library(ggtree)
  library(ggplot2)
ggtree(test.nosoiA.tree, color = "gray30") + 
  geom_nodepoint(aes(color=state)) + 
  geom_tippoint(aes(color=state)) + 
  theme_tree2() + xlab("Time (t)") + 
  theme(legend.position = c(0,0.8), 
        legend.title = element_blank(),
        legend.key = element_blank())
} else {
  message("Packages 'ggtree' and 'ggplot2' are needed for plotting")
}

Each color point represents the location/state, either at transmission (a node) or a host when it exits the simulation (or the end point of the simulation; a tip). This transmission tree is timed (time steps of the simulation). As you can see, no transmission ever occurs at location “B” (green); this is coherent with the chosen nContact function, where no infectious contact occurs when the host is in “B”.

Sampling the transmission chain

Usually, it is unlikely that the whole transmission chain (i.e. every host) will be sampled during surveillance of an epidemic outbreak or endemic transmission. The functions sampleTransmissionTree() and sampleTransmissionTreeFromExiting() can both be used to sample hosts from this transmission chain and construct the new tree based on the existing hosts (tips).

sampleTransmissionTree() needs the following arguments:

In the example above, we want to sample the following 20 hosts:

test.nosoiA.tree.sampled <- sampleTransmissionTree(test.nosoiA, test.nosoiA.tree, samples.data.table)

As before, the tree obtained is a treedata object, and can be plotted:

if (!requireNamespace("ggtree", quietly = TRUE)) {
ggtree(test.nosoiA.tree.sampled, color = "gray30") + geom_nodepoint(aes(color=state)) + geom_tippoint(aes(color=state)) + geom_tiplab(aes(label=host)) + 
  theme_tree2() + xlab("Time (t)") + theme(legend.position = c(0,0.8), 
                                           legend.title = element_blank(),
                                           legend.key = element_blank()) 
}

Alternatively, you can sample among exited hosts (i.e. no longer active at the end of the simulation) using the function sampleTransmissionTreeFromExiting(), mimicking a sampling procedure that is destructive or cuts the hosts from the population. Be careful however, as it does not influence the epidemiological process: the hosts are only sampled when exiting the simulation.

sampleTransmissionTreeFromExiting() needs the following arguments:

In our example, we want to sample these samples:

test.nosoiA.tree.sampled.exiting <- sampleTransmissionTreeFromExiting(test.nosoiA.tree, sampled.hosts)

As before, the tree obtained is a treedata object, and can be plotted:

if (requireNamespace("ggtree", quietly = TRUE)) {
ggtree(test.nosoiA.tree.sampled.exiting, color = "gray30") + geom_nodepoint(aes(color=state)) + geom_tippoint(aes(color=state)) + geom_tiplab(aes(label=host)) + 
  theme_tree2() + xlab("Time (t)") + theme(legend.position = c(0,0.8), 
                                           legend.title = element_blank(),
                                           legend.key = element_blank()) 
} else {
  message("Package 'ggtree' required for plotting")
}

Exporting the Transmission Tree

All the functions mentioned above produce a tidytree::treedata object. It is a phylogenetic tree, with nodes and tips annotated with all the characteristics of the epidemics, including the geographical location when applicable. This format is described in details by his developer in this ebook.

This makes it easy to export the generated data to other software for downstream analyzes, thanks to the package treeio. For instance, the tree can be written in a BEAST compatible format thanks to function treeio::write.beast():

treeio::write.beast(test.nosoiA.tree.sampled.exiting)

These binaries (installable software) and packages are in development.
They may not be fully stable and should be used with caution. We make no claims about them.