Human papillomavirus simulator (HPVsim)
Overview
HPVsim is a flexible agent-based model for simulation HPV transmission and progression through cervical disease to cancer. The model can be parameterized with country-specific vital dynamics, structured sexual networks, co-transmitting HPV genotypes, B- and T-cell mediated immunity, and high-resolution disease natural history. HPVsim is designed with a user-first lens: it is implemented in pure Python, has built-in tools for simulating commonly-used interventions, has been extensively tested and documented, and runs in a matter of seconds to minutes on a laptop.
HPVsim versions
HPVsim was first released in mid-2022 as a fully-documented open-source Python package, and model development continued until version 2.2, which was released in May 2025. In mid-2025, version 3.0 of HPVsim will be released, built on the Starsim modeling architecture. Since this represents a significant shift, version 3.0 and above will live in a separate repository. The original version of HPVsim will be frozen after version 2.2, aside from any critical bugfixes.
Publications
The scientific paper describing HPVsim was published in 2024 in PLOS Computational Biology. The recommended citation is:
HPVsim: An agent-based model of HPV transmission and cervical disease (2024). Stuart RM, Cohen JA, Kerr CC, Mathur P, NDMC India, Zimmermann M, Rao DW, Boudreau MC, Lee S, Yang L, Klein DJ. PLOS Computational Biology, 20(7), e1012181. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012181
Academic papers that have been written using HPVsim include:
Inferring the natural history of HPV from global cancer registries: insights from a multi-country calibration (2024). Stuart RM, Cohen JA, Abeysuriya RG, Sanz-Leon P, Kerr CC, Rao DW, Klein DJ. Sci Rep 14, 15875. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-65842-3
Can pruning improve agent-based models’ calibration? An application to HPVsim (2025). Sturman F, Swallow B, Kerr CC, Stuart RM, Panovska-Griffiths J. Journal of Theoretical Biology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2025.112130.
HPV DNA Screening and Vaccination Strategies in Tunisia (2025). Lahdhiri A, Benzina B, Ennaifer E, Tounsi H, Gzara A, Rammeh-Rommani S, Laraj O, Arfaoui H, Stuart RM, Kebir, A, BenMiled S (2025). Sci Rep, forthcoming.
Contact
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