HHBayes: A Flexible Bayesian Framework for Simulating and Analyzing Household Transmission Dynamics

HHBayes, an open-source R package, enables flexible Bayesian simulation and analysis of household transmission with accurate parameter estimation for diverse pathogens.

• Why it matters: Understanding household transmission is vital for infectious disease control, yet existing tools lack flexibility in modeling age-specific susceptibility, infectiousness, and intervention impacts, limiting research capabilities.
• What they did: The package allows simulation of realistic household transmission dynamics, incorporation of viral load data, estimation of age-dependent parameters via Hamiltonian Monte Carlo in Stan, and evaluation of interventions through customizable covariates, demonstrated through simulation and real-world applications.
• The result: HHBayes provides researchers with a versatile tool for designing studies and analyzing data, facilitating insights into transmission patterns and intervention effects, thereby advancing infectious disease epidemiology.