Deep learning framework for predicting stochastic take-off and die-out of early spreading

Abstract

Large-scale outbreaks of epidemics, misinformation, or other harmful contagions pose significant threats to human society, yet the fundamental question of whether an emerging outbreak will escalate into a major epidemic or naturally die out remains largely unaddressed. This problem is challenging, partially due to inadequate data during the early stages of outbreaks and also because established models focus on average behaviors of large epidemics rather than the stochastic nature of small transmission chains. Here, we introduce the first systematic framework for forecasting whether initial transmission events will amplify into major outbreaks or fade into extinction during early stages, when intervention strategies can still be effectively implemented. Using extensive data from stochastic spreading models, we developed a deep learning framework that predicts early-stage spreading outcomes in real-time. Validation across Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi and Barab\'asi-Albert networks with varying infectivity levels shows our method accurately forecasts stochastic spreading events well before potential outbreaks, demonstrating robust performance across different network structures and infectivity scenarios.To address the challenge of sparse data during early outbreak stages, we further propose a pretrain-finetune framework that leverages diverse simulation data for pretraining and adapts to specific scenarios through targeted fine-tuning. The pretrain-finetune framework consistently outperforms baseline models, achieving superior performance even when trained on limited scenario-specific data. To our knowledge, this work presents the first framework for predicting stochastic take-off versus die-out. This framework provides valuable insights for epidemic preparedness and public health decision-making, enabling more informed early intervention strategies.