Chinyoka Mirirai, Muchatibaya Gift, Jambwa Prosper, Masocha Mhosisi, Mushayabasa Steady
Department of Mathematics and Computational Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box MP 167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Parasite Epidemiol Control. 2024 May 10;25:e00357. doi: 10.1016/j.parepi.2024.e00357. eCollection 2024 May.
Immunisation of livestock with high-quality vaccines and the use of acaricides are highly ranked tick control strategies worldwide. However, the effects of coupling livestock immunisation and acaricide control on mitigating the spread of East Coast Fever (ECF) is not well understood. Effective strategies to curb the disease require an understanding of the influence of control strategies on ECF dynamics. This paper presents a new mathematical model for ECF in ticks and livestock to analyze the effect of livestock immunisation and acaricide control on preventing ECF spread. Our research is focused on examining how vaccine efficacy, inoculation rate, and acaricide efficacy affect disease progression. Our finding is that acaricide control alone may not be sufficient to stop the spread of ECF, even if it has an 80% effectiveness all the time. However, by pairing acaricide control with livestock vaccination, disease transmission is significantly reduced and elimination is possible under certain circumstances. Overall, results show that it is crucial to understand the influence of combining control strategies to mitigate the spread of this devastating livestock disease and enhance decision making among policymakers and livestock keepers.
使用高质量疫苗对牲畜进行免疫接种以及使用杀螨剂是全球排名靠前的蜱虫控制策略。然而，将牲畜免疫接种与杀螨剂控制相结合对减轻东海岸热（ECF）传播的效果尚未得到充分了解。遏制该疾病的有效策略需要了解控制策略对ECF动态的影响。本文提出了一种针对蜱虫和牲畜中ECF的新数学模型，以分析牲畜免疫接种和杀螨剂控制对预防ECF传播的影响。我们的研究重点是考察疫苗效力、接种率和杀螨剂效力如何影响疾病进展。我们的发现是，仅靠杀螨剂控制可能不足以阻止ECF的传播，即使其一直具有80%的有效性。然而，通过将杀螨剂控制与牲畜疫苗接种相结合，疾病传播会显著减少，并且在某些情况下有可能消除该疾病。总体而言，结果表明，了解控制策略组合对减轻这种毁灭性牲畜疾病传播的影响，并加强政策制定者和牲畜饲养者的决策至关重要。
