Document Type
Article
Source Publication Title
Mathematic Population Studies
First Page
135
Last Page
152
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08898480600788576
Abstract
Recent research in the transmission of the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, some strains of which cause Chagas’ disease, suggests that consumption of vectors by sylvatic hosts such as raccoons may play a role in maintaining the transmission cycle in the wild. As both hosts and vectors have been observed to invade new ecological niches, it is important to consider the effect vector consumption may have on vector density. For this reason a per individual contact rate is employed which rises roughly linearly for low vector densities and saturates for high densities. The model under study thus superimposes a predator-prey structure on a host-vector infection cycle (with first one, and then multiple, hosts). Outbreak behavior follows classical threshold behavior through the reproductive number R0, which allows evaluation of the importance of this transmission avenue relative to the traditional route. For sufficiently sharp contact rate saturation, two locally stable vector densities may exist.
Disciplines
Mathematics | Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Publication Date
1-1-2006
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Kribs, Christopher, "Vector consumption and contact process saturation in sylvatic transmission of T. cruzi" (2006). Mathematics Faculty Publications. 7.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/math_facpubs/7
Comments
The author acknowledges the support of a 2003 Fulbright Scholarship as well as a grant from the Fondo Ram on A ´ lvarez-Buylla at the Universidad de Colima.