A patchy model for the transmission dynamics of tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa.

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) spreads through contact between a susceptible person and smear positive pulmonary TB case (TPM+). The spread of TB is highly dependent on people migration between cities or regions that may have different contact rates and different environmental parameters, leading to different disease spread speed in the population. In this work, a metapopulation model, i.e., networks of populations connected by migratory flows, which overcomes the assumption of homogeneous mixing between different regions was constructed. The TB model was combined to a simple demographic structure for the population living in a multi-patch environment (cities, towns, regions or countries). The model consist of a system of differential equations coupling TB epidemic at different strength and mobility between the patches. Constant recruitment rate, slow and fast progression to the disease, effective chemoprophylaxis, diagnostic and treatment are taken into account to make the model including the reality of people in the sub-Saharan African countries. The basic reproduction number (mathcal {R}_0) was computed and it was demonstrated that the disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable if mathcal {R}_0 < 1. When mathcal {R}_0 > 1, the disease-free equilibrium is unstable and there exists one endemic equilibrium. Moreover, the impact of increasing migration rate between patches on the TB spread was quantified using numerical implementation of the model. Using an example on 15 inter-connected patches on the same road, we demonstrated that most people was most likely to get infected if the disease starts in a patch in the middle than in border patches.