A Mathematical Model of Lassa Fever Transmission and Control in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Lassa virus is transmitted from rodents to humans, but it is not known whether humans can transmit Lassa fever to rats. The virus is thought to spread to humans through contact with contaminated food or surfaces. Other forms of infection include handling rodents for food (people often get rodent blood and urine on their hands) and bites. It can also spread through the use of contaminated medical equipment, such as reusing needles. The state variables of the Lassa Fever model equation is expressed as nonlinear ordinary differential equations in the technique of an initial value problem (IVP) having 10 parameters. As a result of measuring the spread of Lassa fever and determining the stability equilibrium, Lassa fever was found to be stable at an equilibrium point <i>ε</i><sub>0</sub> for which the basic reproduction number <I>R</I><sub>0</sub>< 1. This paper optimized three control measures as a means to limit the spread of Lassa fever. The first two measures - regular hand washing and keeping homes and environment clean reduced the rate and impact of transmission between rodents and humans and the treatment of Lassa fever patients reduce transmission to human hosts, which were achieved by the operation of Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle. Therefore, the results of this study demonstrate that the joint control measures adopted in this paper are effective strategies to combat the spread of disease.