Long-term transmission dynamics of tick-borne diseases involving seasonal variation and co-feeding transmission

TitleLong-term transmission dynamics of tick-borne diseases involving seasonal variation and co-feeding transmission
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2021
JournalJ Biol Dyn
Volume15
Issue1
Start Page269
Date Published12/2021
AuthorsNah K, Wu J
KeywordsCo-feeding transmission; periodic system of differential equations; tick-borne disease dynamics
Abstract

Co-feeding is a mode of pathogen transmission for a wide range of tick-borne diseases where susceptible ticks can acquire infection from co-feeding with infected ticks on the same hosts. The significance of this transmission pathway is determined by the co-occurrence of ticks at different stages in the same season. Taking this into account, we formulate a system of differential equations with tick population dynamics and pathogen transmission dynamics highly regulated by the seasonal temperature variations. We examine the global dynamics of the model systems, and show that the two important ecological and epidemiological basic reproduction numbers can be used to fully characterize the long-term dynamics, and we link these two important threshold values to efficacy of co-feeding transmission.

URLhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33905296/