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Maintaining Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Infected with Wolbachia
Published on: August 14, 2017
Modeling and control of mosquito-borne diseases with Wolbachia and insecticides
1Key Laboratory of Eco-environments in Three Gorges Reservoir Region (Ministry of Education), School of Mathematics and Statistics, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Key Laboratory of Complex Systems and Intelligent Computing, School of Mathematics and Statistics, Qiannan Normal University for Nationalities, Duyun 558000, China.
Abstract:
Mosquitoes cause more human suffering than any other organism. It is estimated that over one million people worldwide die from mosquito-borne diseases every year. With the continuous efforts of many researchers, Wolbachia gets more and more attention due to its characteristics of maternal transmission in mosquito population and it may cause cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) which makes healthy females cannot fertilize normally after mating with infected males. In this paper, mathematical models are established to study Wolbachia transmission in mosquito population, and integrated mosquito control strategies are explored. Firstly, a classical ordinary differential system with general birth and death rate functions is established to describe the maternal transmission and CI effect. It is shown that the replacement strategy that the Wolbachia-uninfected mosquitoes are replaced by the infected ones is determined by the initial infection frequency. And Wolbachia spreads more easily for greater maternal transmission and CI rate. Moreover, all the wild mosquitoes will eventually be infected with Wolbachia if the maternal transmission is complete. Secondly, an impulsive state feedback control model is constructed to describe the integrated mosquito control. Besides Wolbachia, insecticides are sprayed when the quantity of mosquitoes reaches some Economic Threshold. The existence and stability of Wolbachia replacement periodic solution are discussed. Finally, some discussions are done and the future research directions are prospected.
Insights
Mathematical models show Wolbachia bacteria can spread through mosquito populations, potentially replacing uninfected mosquitoes. Integrated control strategies combining Wolbachia and insecticides offer effective mosquito population management.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Mathematical Biology
- Vector Control
Background:
- Mosquito-borne diseases cause over one million deaths annually.
- Wolbachia bacteria, with maternal transmission and cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), show promise for mosquito control.
Purpose of the Study:
- To model Wolbachia transmission dynamics in mosquito populations.
- To explore integrated mosquito control strategies using Wolbachia and insecticides.
Main Methods:
- Developed a classical ordinary differential equation system to model maternal transmission and CI.
- Constructed an impulsive state feedback control model for integrated control.
Main Results:
- Wolbachia replacement strategy effectiveness depends on initial infection frequency.
- Higher maternal transmission and CI rates facilitate Wolbachia spread.
- Complete maternal transmission leads to eventual complete infection of wild mosquitoes.
- Discussed the existence and stability of Wolbachia replacement periodic solutions under integrated control.
Conclusions:
- Mathematical models provide insights into Wolbachia transmission and control.
- Integrated strategies combining Wolbachia and insecticides can manage mosquito populations effectively.
- Further research directions in mosquito control are identified.

