The impact of sexually abstaining groups on persistence of sexually transmitted infections in populations with ephemeral pair bonds

Abstract

Individuals often stop reproducing some time before they die. In this paper we compose and analyze a logistic two-sex population model in which individuals form pairs just to mate (i.e. pair bonds are ephemeral) and later move on to sexually abstaining groups. Using this model, we study the impact of sexually abstaining groups on persistence of a benign sexually transmitted infection (STI) in populations with such ephemeral pair bonds. We observe that the presence of sexually abstaining groups cannot prevent an STI from invasion or eliminate it when already present if the transition rates to the sexually abstaining groups are independent of the infection status of individuals (susceptible or infected). On the other hand, if they depend on that status, the presence of sexually abstaining groups can prevent an STI from invasion or eliminate it when present. Specifically, in the simple case of sex-independent vital parameters, this happens if the transition rate of the infected individuals to the sexually abstaining group is higher than the transition rate of the susceptible ones. These results contrast the earlier results based on assuming long-term, stable pair bonds, in which case one is capable of preventing or eliminating the disease with the same isolation rate for the susceptible and infected individuals.