Modeling the Effect of Screening and Treatment on the Transmission of Tuberculosis Infections

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic airborne disease caused mainly by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and has caused many deaths globally and Tanzania in particular due to failure or delayed intervention. In this paper, a deterministic mathematical model for transmission dynamics of TB with vaccination and screening the population for the purpose of identifying those for immediate treatment is formulated. The effective reproduction number is computed in order to measure the relative impact for individual or combined intervention for effective disease control. Numerical simulations of the basic reproduction number shows that, the combination of vaccination, screening and treatment is the most effective intervention for minimizing the transmission of TB in a population.

Key words: Tuberculosis, Modeling, Screening, Treatment.