Work

An Epidemic Model Coupled With Environmental Level: Explore the Impact of Disease Awareness on Direct and Indirect Transmission

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: To study the impact of disease awareness on infectious diseases with direct and indirect transmission, we develop a mathematical model by coupling the transmission dynamics at the population level and the environmental level. The basic reproduction number $R_0$ of the coupled model is calculated, and the existence and stability of the disease-free and endemic equilibrium are analyzed in detail. By using center manifold theory, it is verified that the model undergoes backward bifurcation under certain conditions. Numerical simulations verify our theoretical results and indicate that enhancing disease awareness can help reduce both the risk of direct and indirect disease transmission. Interestingly, increasing disease awareness decreases the backward regime of the bifurcation curve, thereby the $R_0$ interval in which the endemic equilibrium and the disease-free equilibrium showed bistability becomes smaller, and the $R_0$ interval in which the disease-free equilibrium showed global stability becomes greater. If the disease cannot be eliminated, the number of infected persons at the steady state decreases with the increase in disease awareness. The findings have certain reference values for the development of effective non-pharmaceutical intervention policies.

Source: Journal of Applied Analysis & Computation

DOI: 10.11948/20240230

Authors: Shiyu Li, Yuanshun Tan, Xiaodan Sun, Yu Mu

Institutions: Chongqing Jiaotong University, Xi'an Jiaotong University

Language: English

Topic: Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models

Subfield: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China