Environment considerations on the spread of rabies among African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) with control measures

Abstract

Wildlife conservation is crucial in preventing endangered species from becoming extinct, and disease outbreaks is one of the biggest threats. Rabies is one of the devastating viruses that can almost be impossible to control once an outbreak occurs. There is no effective treatment or cure of rabies once symptoms show. In this work, we propose euthanasia of infected Lycaon pictus dogs as a control strategy to reduce the spread of the virus. We propose a simple deterministic SEI-type rabies model that takes into account the contaminated environment and the euthanasia of infectious dogs to better understand the transmission and progression dynamics of the disease, as well as to seek to predict the effectiveness of this control strategy. Qualitative analysis and numerical simulations are provided to support our findings.