A study on transmission dynamics of the emerging Candida Auris infections in Intensive Care Units: Optimal control analysis and numerical computations

Abstract

The emerging multi-drug resistant super yeast Candida Auris, has become an alarming cause of nosocomial invasive infections across the world over the recent years. The ability of Candida Auris to survive and grow at elevated temperatures and its high probability of misidentification in the routine clinical laboratories pose a serious challenge at health care facilities. In this paper, we formulate a new mathematical model for Candidia Auris infections at critical care facilities of various public sector and private sector hospitals. We first investigate the stability of the model for the infection free equilibrium by calculating the basic reproduction number followed by the analysis of the optimality of contact precaution and isolation as control strategies. The mathematical expressions of optimal control are obtained by Pontryagin’s Minimum Principle. The graphical representation of the outcome of numerical simulation reveals that by adhering to strict contact precaution guidelines and timely isolation of colonized patients, the spread of Candida auris infections can be prevented and controlled to great extent at health care settings.