A SIS reaction-diffusion-advection model in a low-risk and high-risk domain

TL;DR

This paper introduces a reaction-diffusion-advection model with a free boundary to study how environmental heterogeneity and advection influence the spread or eradication of infectious diseases, providing conditions for control and spreading speed analysis.

Contribution

It develops a novel SIS reaction-diffusion-advection model with a free boundary and analyzes the effects of spatial heterogeneity and advection on disease dynamics, including conditions for spread or eradication.

Findings

Fast diffusion and small initial infected domain aid disease control.

High-risk spreading domain leads to full-area infection.

Spreading speeds are characterized and numerical simulations illustrate effects.

Abstract

A simplified SIS reaction-diffusion-advection model is proposed and investigated to understand the impact of spatial heterogeneity of environment and advection on the persistence and eradication of an infectious disease. The free boundary is introduced to model the contact transmission at the spreading front of the disease. The behavior of positive solutions to a reaction-diffusion-advection system are discussed. The basic reproduction number $R_0^F(t)$ associated with the diseases in the spatial setting is introduced for this diffusive SIS model with the free boundary, we prove that fast diffusion, small expanding rate and small initial infected domain are benefit for the control of the spatial spread of the disease. Sufficient conditions for the disease to be eradicated or to spread are also given, our result shows that the disease will spread to the whole area if there exists a $t_0\geq 0$ such that $R_{0}^F(t_0)\geq 1$, that is, if the spreading domain is high-risk at some time, the disease will continue to spread till the whole area is infected; while if $R_{0}^F(0)<1$, the disease may be vanishing or keep spreading depends on the expanding rate and the initial number of the infective individuals. The spreading speeds are also given when spreading happens, and numerical simulations are also given to illustrate the impacts of the advection and the expanding rate on the spreading fronts.