Browsing by Author "Nyerere,Nkuba"

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The role of temporary displacement of domestic animals in brucellosis control
(Elsevier, 2025-10-27) Msuya, Rehema; Mirau, Silas; Nyerere,Nkuba; Mbalawata, Isambi
Brucellosis is one of the most prevalent zoonotic diseases worldwide, with significant impacts on human health, animal productivity, and the economy. Animal movement is a key factor influencing its transmission; however, the understanding of how such movements shape disease dynamics and the effectiveness of applied control measures remains limited. This study presents an optimal control model for brucellosis transmission among domestic animals, given the uncertainty in animal movement patterns. The model incorporates and evaluates the effectiveness of different control strategies under varying movement patterns. The effective reproduction number is computed, compared with the basic reproduction number , and used to quantify the potential for brucellosis spread and the effectiveness of different control measures for different time proportions a domestic animal spends in low or high-risk patches. Global sensitivity analysis was performed using the Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS) approach, where the Partial Rank Correlation Coefficient (PRCC) index was computed. The results show that the time spent by domestic animals in high-risk areas limits the control of brucellosis. The findings also reveal that vaccination is the most effective strategy for significantly reducing the spread of brucellosis, even when domestic animals from low-risk areas spend extended periods in high-risk zones. This underscores the pivotal role of vaccination as the cornerstone of brucellosis control and prevention efforts.