Modeling TB-HIV syndemic and treatment

TL;DR

This paper develops a mathematical model for the transmission dynamics of TB and HIV, analyzing how treatment strategies impact co-infection rates and disease-induced mortality.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model considering treatment for TB, HIV, and co-infected individuals, providing insights into disease control strategies.

Findings

TB treatment reduces co-infection and mortality

HIV treatment decreases co-infected cases

Treating co-infected individuals lowers progression to AIDS

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can be considered a deadly human syndemic. In this article, we formulate a model for TB and HIV transmission dynamics. The model considers both TB and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) treatment for individuals with only one of the infectious diseases or both. The basic reproduction number and equilibrium points are determined and stability is analyzed. Through simulations, we show that TB treatment for individuals with only TB infection reduces the number of individuals that become co-infected with TB and HIV/AIDS, and reduces the diseases (TB and AIDS) induced deaths. Analogously, the treatment of individuals with only AIDS also reduces the number of co-infected individuals. Further, TB-treatment for co-infected individuals in the active and latent stage of TB disease, implies a decrease of the number of individuals that passes from HIV-positive to AIDS.