Coordination among neighbors improves the efficacy of Zika control despite economic costs

by Natalie J. Lemanski, Samantha R. Schwab, Dina M. Fonseca, Nina H. Fefferman Emerging mosquito-borne viruses like Zika, dengue, and chikungunya pose a major threat to public health, especially in low-income regions of Central and South America, southeast Asia, and the Caribbean. Outbreaks of these diseases are likely to have long-term social and economic consequences due t o Zika-induced congenital microcephaly and other complications. Larval control of the container-inhabiting mosquitoes that transmit these infections is an important tool for mitigating outbreaks. However, metapopulation theory suggests that spatiotemporally uneven larvicide treatment can impede cont rol effectiveness, as recolonization compensates for mortality within patches. Coordinating the timing of treatment among patches could therefore substantially improve epidemic control, but we must also consider economic constraints, since coordination may have costs that divert resources from treat ment. To inform practical disease management strategies, we ask how coordination among neighbors in the timing of mosquito control efforts influences the size of a mosquito-borne infectious disease outbreak under the realistic assumption that coordination has costs. Using an SIR (Susceptible-Infecti ous-Recovered)/metapopulation model of mosquito and disease dynamics, we examine whether sharing surveillance information and coordinating larvicide treatment among neighboring patches reduces human infections when inc...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research