Document Type
Article
Original Publication Date
2017
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Letters in Biomathematics
Volume
4
Issue
1
First Page
112
Last Page
132
DOI of Original Publication
10.1080/23737867.2017.1302828
Date of Submission
November 2017
Abstract
We develop a host–vector model of West Nile virus (WNV) transmission that incorporates multiple avian host species as well as host stage-structure (juvenile and adult stages), allowing for both species-specific and stage-specific biting rates of vectors on hosts. We use this ordinary differential equation model to explore WNV transmission dynamics that occur between vectors and multiple structured host populations as a result of heterogeneous biting rates on species and/or life stages. Our analysis shows that increased exposure of juvenile hosts generally results in larger outbreaks of WNV infectious vectors when compared to differential host species exposure. We also find that increased juvenile exposure is an important mechanism for determining the effect of species diversity on the disease risk of a community.
Rights
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Is Part Of
VCU Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Publications
Comments
Originally published at http://doi.org/10.1080/23737867.2017.1302828.
Funded in part by the VCU Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund.