Spatial diffusion and periodic evolving of domain in an SIS epidemic model

TL;DR

This paper investigates how periodic changes in a domain affect disease spread in an SIS model, revealing how domain evolution, diffusion, and size influence disease control thresholds.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of an SIS reaction-diffusion model on a periodically evolving domain, deriving the basic reproduction number and its dependence on domain dynamics.

Findings

Small evolving rate reduces disease spread.

Lower diffusion of infected individuals aids control.

Smaller domain size enhances disease prevention.

Abstract

In order to explore the impact of periodically evolving domain on the transmission of disease, we study a SIS reaction-diffusion model with logistic term on a periodically evolving domain. The basic reproduction number ${\mathcal{R}}_0$ is given by the next generation infection operator, and relies on the evolving rate of the periodically evolving domain, diffusion coefficient of infected individuals $d_I$ and size of the space. The monotonicity of ${\mathcal{R}}_0$ with respect to $d_I$, evolving rate $\rho(t)$ and interval length $L$ are derived, and asymptotic property of ${\mathcal{R}}_0$ if $d_I$ or $L$ is small enough or large enough in one-dimensional space are discussed. ${\mathcal{R}}_0$ as threshold can be used to characterize whether the disease-free equilibrium is stable or not. Our theoretical results and numerical simulations indicate that small evolving rate, small diffusion of infected individuals and small interval length have positive impact on prevention and control of disease.