Fighting typhoid fever: Modeling antibiotic resistance and antibiotic switching

Typhoid fever continues to be a major public health concern, particularly in developing countries where the sanitation infrastructure is inadequate. The rise in resistance to typhoid drugs has made treatment increasingly challenging, resulting in longer recovery times and continued transmission of t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Maria M. Shaale, Josiah Mushanyu, Farai Nyabadza, Samuel M. Nuugulu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:Franklin Open
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2773186325000647
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849471499945115648
author Maria M. Shaale
Josiah Mushanyu
Farai Nyabadza
Samuel M. Nuugulu
author_facet Maria M. Shaale
Josiah Mushanyu
Farai Nyabadza
Samuel M. Nuugulu
author_sort Maria M. Shaale
collection DOAJ
description Typhoid fever continues to be a major public health concern, particularly in developing countries where the sanitation infrastructure is inadequate. The rise in resistance to typhoid drugs has made treatment increasingly challenging, resulting in longer recovery times and continued transmission of the disease within households and communities. This growing resistance underscores the urgent need for improved treatment strategies and public health intervention. In this study, we presented a mathematical model of typhoid fever that incorporates antibiotic resistance and the implementation of antibiotic switching as a control strategy. The model considers individuals infected with typhoid antibiotic sensitive strains and typhoid antibiotic resistant strain. The effects of antibiotic switching, which involves transitioning patients between different antibiotics, are modeled to study its impact on the prevalence of resistant and sensitive strains. The model is analyzed and the model reproduction number, R0, is found to be the sum of two reproduction numbers Rs and Rr representing the contribution of the sensitive and resistant strains, respectively. The stability analysis indicates that the disease-free equilibrium is stable when the model reproduction number is less than one, suggesting the possibility of eradicating the disease under effective control measures. In contrast, the endemic equilibrium remains stable when the reproduction number exceeds one, indicating persistent infection levels. Sensitivity analysis is performed to identify critical parameters that influence the persistence of typhoid in the population. Numerical simulations are performed to support the theoretical findings. The results obtained demonstrate that antibiotic switching can reduce the prevalence of resistant and sensitive strains and overall infection levels, highlighting their potential as an effective strategy to manage antibiotic resistance in typhoid fever.
format Article
id doaj-art-b2074fc39ce641d8bd4fc05ef3a36626
institution Kabale University
issn 2773-1863
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Franklin Open
spelling doaj-art-b2074fc39ce641d8bd4fc05ef3a366262025-08-20T03:24:48ZengElsevierFranklin Open2773-18632025-06-011110027410.1016/j.fraope.2025.100274Fighting typhoid fever: Modeling antibiotic resistance and antibiotic switchingMaria M. Shaale0Josiah Mushanyu1Farai Nyabadza2Samuel M. Nuugulu3Department of Computing, Mathematical & Statistical Science, University of Namibia, Windhoek 13301, Namibia; Corresponding author.Department of Computing, Mathematical & Statistical Science, University of Namibia, Windhoek 13301, NamibiaDepartment of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa; Institute of Applied Research and Technology, Emirates Aviation University, Dubai International Academic City, United Arab EmiratesDepartment of Computing, Mathematical & Statistical Science, University of Namibia, Windhoek 13301, NamibiaTyphoid fever continues to be a major public health concern, particularly in developing countries where the sanitation infrastructure is inadequate. The rise in resistance to typhoid drugs has made treatment increasingly challenging, resulting in longer recovery times and continued transmission of the disease within households and communities. This growing resistance underscores the urgent need for improved treatment strategies and public health intervention. In this study, we presented a mathematical model of typhoid fever that incorporates antibiotic resistance and the implementation of antibiotic switching as a control strategy. The model considers individuals infected with typhoid antibiotic sensitive strains and typhoid antibiotic resistant strain. The effects of antibiotic switching, which involves transitioning patients between different antibiotics, are modeled to study its impact on the prevalence of resistant and sensitive strains. The model is analyzed and the model reproduction number, R0, is found to be the sum of two reproduction numbers Rs and Rr representing the contribution of the sensitive and resistant strains, respectively. The stability analysis indicates that the disease-free equilibrium is stable when the model reproduction number is less than one, suggesting the possibility of eradicating the disease under effective control measures. In contrast, the endemic equilibrium remains stable when the reproduction number exceeds one, indicating persistent infection levels. Sensitivity analysis is performed to identify critical parameters that influence the persistence of typhoid in the population. Numerical simulations are performed to support the theoretical findings. The results obtained demonstrate that antibiotic switching can reduce the prevalence of resistant and sensitive strains and overall infection levels, highlighting their potential as an effective strategy to manage antibiotic resistance in typhoid fever.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2773186325000647TyphoidAntibiotic resistanceStrainsSwitchingReproduction numberNumerical simulations
spellingShingle Maria M. Shaale
Josiah Mushanyu
Farai Nyabadza
Samuel M. Nuugulu
Fighting typhoid fever: Modeling antibiotic resistance and antibiotic switching
Franklin Open
Typhoid
Antibiotic resistance
Strains
Switching
Reproduction number
Numerical simulations
title Fighting typhoid fever: Modeling antibiotic resistance and antibiotic switching
title_full Fighting typhoid fever: Modeling antibiotic resistance and antibiotic switching
title_fullStr Fighting typhoid fever: Modeling antibiotic resistance and antibiotic switching
title_full_unstemmed Fighting typhoid fever: Modeling antibiotic resistance and antibiotic switching
title_short Fighting typhoid fever: Modeling antibiotic resistance and antibiotic switching
title_sort fighting typhoid fever modeling antibiotic resistance and antibiotic switching
topic Typhoid
Antibiotic resistance
Strains
Switching
Reproduction number
Numerical simulations
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2773186325000647
work_keys_str_mv AT mariamshaale fightingtyphoidfevermodelingantibioticresistanceandantibioticswitching
AT josiahmushanyu fightingtyphoidfevermodelingantibioticresistanceandantibioticswitching
AT farainyabadza fightingtyphoidfevermodelingantibioticresistanceandantibioticswitching
AT samuelmnuugulu fightingtyphoidfevermodelingantibioticresistanceandantibioticswitching