Coupling plankton and cholera dynamics: insights into outbreak prediction and practical disease management

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Maity, Biplab, Banerjee, Swarnendu, Senapati, Abhishek, Pitchford, Jon, Chattopadhyay, Joydev
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Maity, Biplab
Banerjee, Swarnendu
Senapati, Abhishek
Pitchford, Jon
Chattopadhyay, Joydev
author_facet Maity, Biplab
Banerjee, Swarnendu
Senapati, Abhishek
Pitchford, Jon
Chattopadhyay, Joydev
contents Despite extensive control efforts over the centuries, cholera remains a globally significant health issue. Seasonal emergence of cholera cases has been reported, particularly in the Bengal delta region, which is often synchronized with plankton blooms. This phenomenon has been widely attributed to the commensal interaction between Vibrio cholerae and zooplankton in aquatic environments. Understanding the role of plankton dynamics in cholera epidemiology is therefore crucial for effective policy-making. To this end, we propose and analyze a novel compartment-based transmission model that integrates phytoplankton-zooplankton interactions into a human-bacteria cholera model. We show that zooplankton-mediated transmission can lead to counterintuitive outcomes, such as an outbreak with a delayed and lower peak still resulting in a larger overall outbreak size. Such outbreaks are prolonged by maintaining infections at lower levels during the post-peak phase, thereby intensifying epidemic overshoot and promoting the inter-epidemic persistence of pathogens. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that the timing of filtration-like interventions can be strategically guided by ecological indicators, such as phytoplankton blooms. Our study underscores the importance of incorporating ecological aspects in epidemiological research to gain a deeper understanding of disease dynamics.
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institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Coupling plankton and cholera dynamics: insights into outbreak prediction and practical disease management
Maity, Biplab
Banerjee, Swarnendu
Senapati, Abhishek
Pitchford, Jon
Chattopadhyay, Joydev
Populations and Evolution
Despite extensive control efforts over the centuries, cholera remains a globally significant health issue. Seasonal emergence of cholera cases has been reported, particularly in the Bengal delta region, which is often synchronized with plankton blooms. This phenomenon has been widely attributed to the commensal interaction between Vibrio cholerae and zooplankton in aquatic environments. Understanding the role of plankton dynamics in cholera epidemiology is therefore crucial for effective policy-making. To this end, we propose and analyze a novel compartment-based transmission model that integrates phytoplankton-zooplankton interactions into a human-bacteria cholera model. We show that zooplankton-mediated transmission can lead to counterintuitive outcomes, such as an outbreak with a delayed and lower peak still resulting in a larger overall outbreak size. Such outbreaks are prolonged by maintaining infections at lower levels during the post-peak phase, thereby intensifying epidemic overshoot and promoting the inter-epidemic persistence of pathogens. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that the timing of filtration-like interventions can be strategically guided by ecological indicators, such as phytoplankton blooms. Our study underscores the importance of incorporating ecological aspects in epidemiological research to gain a deeper understanding of disease dynamics.
title Coupling plankton and cholera dynamics: insights into outbreak prediction and practical disease management
topic Populations and Evolution
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.21963