A metapopulation model for sylvatic T. cruzi transmission with vector migration

Abstract

This study presents a metapopulation model for the sylvatic transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas' disease, across multiple geographical regions and multiple overlapping host-vector transmission cycles.Classical qualitative analysis of the model and several submodels focuses on the parasite's basic reproductive number, illustrating how vector migration across patches and multiple transmission routes to hosts (including vertical transmission) determine the infection's persistence in each cycle.Numerical results focus on trends in endemic [equilibrium] persistence levels as functions of vector migration rates, and highlight the significance of the different epidemiological characteristics of transmission in each of the three regions.

Keywords

• dynamical systems
• t. cruzi
• reproductive number.
• vector migration
• metapopulation model