Work

Mathematical Modeling of Buffer Zone Design to Prevent Mosquito Migration

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Mosquito-borne diseases, such as Dengue fever and malaria, are responsible for over 700,000 deaths annually and lead to a high disease burden worldwide. Releasing Wolbachia-infected male mosquitoes to suppress the wild mosquito population is a novel strategy in the control of mosquito-borne diseases. However, mosquitoes that migrate from outside can affect the suppression effect in the release zone. Therefore, it is necessary to set up buffer zones around the protected area to maintain mosquito control effectiveness. In this work, we first evaluate the threshold dynamics of three candidate mosquito-control strategies within a closed system. Building upon these basic dynamics, our core contribution is the development of a continuous-time spatial multi-patch model to investigate how we can optimally combine and deploy these strategies in buffer zones to block continuous mosquito invasion. We also provide numerical simulations to verify our theoretical results.

Source: Mathematics

DOI: 10.3390/math14162964

Authors: Fengjiao Li, Linchao Hu, Muzi Li, Kemeng Zhang

Institutions: Guangzhou University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Harvard 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: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137