Maia Martcheva: Department of Mathematics, University of Florida, 358 Little Hall, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA. maia@ufl.edu.
Suzanne Lenhart: Department of Mathematics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA. lenhart@math.utk.edu.
Shigetoshi Eda: Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA. seda@utk.edu.
Don Klinkenberg: Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, 3584CL, The Netherlands. D.Klinkenberg@uu.nl.
Eiichi Momotani: Department of Human-care, Tohto College of Health Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Fukaya, Saitama, 366-0052, Japan. eiichimomotani@gmail.com.
Judy Stabel: National Animal Disease Center, USDA, Ames, IA, 50010, USA. judy.stabel@ars.usda.gov.
To better understand the mechanisms involved in the dynamics of Johne's disease in dairy cattle, this paper illustrates a novel way to link a within-host model for Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis with an epidemiological model. The underlying variable in the within-host model is the time since infection. Two compartments, infected macrophages and T cells, of the within-host model feed into the epidemiological model through the direct transmission rate, disease-induced mortality rate, the vertical transmission rate, and the shedding of MAP into the environment. The epidemiological reproduction number depends on the within-host bacteria load in a complex way, exhibiting multiple peaks. A possible mechanism to account for the switch in shedding patterns of the bacteria in this disease is included in the within-host model, and its effect can be seen in the epidemiological reproduction model.
References
J Immunol. 2001 Feb 1;166(3):1951-67
[PMID: 11160244]
