Title: The impact of hygiene care and maternal immunity on stability behaviour of rotavirus infection model for children under the age of five in Thailand

Authors: Ratchada Viriyapong; Gunyarat Koompawan

Addresses: Faculty of Science, Department of Mathematics, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok 65000, Thailand ' Faculty of Science, Department of Mathematics, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok 65000, Thailand

Abstract: Rotavirus infection is one of the significant causes of death in infants and children under five years of age in Thailand and worldwide. In this paper, a deterministic model for rotavirus transmission in children under five years old in Thailand incorporating with hygiene care control and maternal immunity is developed. The basic reproduction number (R_v) is derived and becomes a threshold indicating the stability of both disease-free and endemic equilibrium points. Through the analysis, the results show that the disease-free equilibrium point is locally asymptotically stable when R_v < 1 and the endemic equilibrium point is locally stable when R_v > 1 and satisfies the Routh-Hurwitz criteria. Further, numerical simulation demonstrates that both hygiene care and maternal immunity to the infection due to breastfeeding should be encouraged as a strategy to control rotavirus infection.

Keywords: diarrhoea; rotavirus; mathematical modelling; basic reproduction number; hygiene care; breastfeeding.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMNO.2018.094549

International Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Optimisation, 2018 Vol.8 No.4, pp.378 - 392

Received: 22 Jul 2017
Accepted: 05 Nov 2017
Published online: 06 Sep 2018 *

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