On the role of soft computing in modelling the spread of infectious diseases

Infectious disease modelling is an interdisciplinary activity that has become more prevalent over the last decade as a valuable and practical tool for public health experts. Soft computing, with its suite of techniques and strategies, which effectively handles imprecise, approximate, and vague scenarios, can play an important role in expanding the use of these models. We present a review of soft computing techniques that have been used in infectious disease modelling as well as a prescription of future challenges and issues this discipline must address to be fully accepted by the public health community.