Mathematical Modeling of Coccidiosis Dynamics in Chickens with Some Control Strategies

Abstract

Coccidiosis is an infectious disease caused by the Eimeria species. The species can infect a bird’s digestive system, severely slow down its growth, and is a serious economic burden for chickens. A mathematical model for the transmission dynamics of coccidiosis disease in chickens in the presence of control interventions has been formulated and analyzed to gain insights into the dynamics of the disease in the population. Three control interventions, namely vaccination, sanitation, and treatment, are implemented. The study intends to assess the effects of these control interventions in coccidiosis transmission dynamics. Using the theory of differential equations, the invariant set of the model was derived, and the model’s solution was found to be mathematically and biologically significant. Analytical methods are employed to establish equilibrium solutions and investigate the stability of the model system’s equilibria, while numerical simulations illustrate the analytical results. The effective reproduction number is obtained using the next-generation matrix method, and the local stability of the equilibria of the model is established. The disease-free equilibrium is proved to be locally stable when the effective reproduction number is less than unity. Also, the nature of the bifurcation and its implications for disease prevention are investigated through the application of the center manifold theory. On the other hand, sensitivity analysis is carried out to investigate the parameters that impact the transmission of coccidiosis disease using the normalized forward sensitivity index. The parameters that have a greater influence on the effective reproduction number should be targeted for control purposes to lessen the spread of disease. Furthermore, numerical simulation is performed to investigate the contribution of each control intervention.