Mathematical Modelling of Tungiasis Disease Dynamics Incorporating Hygiene as a Control Strategy

Abstract

Tungiasis is a disease that mostly affects the children,the disabled,alcoholics and the aged in Kenya and other parts of the world.Despite the intensive research that has been doneon tungiasis disease,the disease remains a threat in Muranga County.In this research, weformulated a model which is mathematical in nature and derived a system of ordinary differentialequations from it,which we used to study the dynamics of tungiasis disease, incorporating properhygiene as a control measure.The basic reproduction number, R0, is calculated using the nextgeneration matrix.We determined the equilibrium points of the model and also carried out theirstability analysis. From stability, both disease free equilibrium and endemic equilibrium points of the model were found to be locally asymptotically stable when R0 < 1 and R0 > 1 respectively.Numerical simulation of the model carried out showed that effective proper hygiene leads to afaster decrease in the spread of tungiasis.