The use of an imperfect vaccination and awareness campaign in the control of antibiotic resistant gonorrhoea infection: A mathematical modelling perspective.

The multi drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae has been classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a high-priority global public health problem. This underlines the need for better understanding of the transmission dynamics and proposing an optimal intervention strategy to control the disease. In this article, a deterministic mathematical model for the transmission dynamics of gonorrhoea as an antibiotic resistant disease in a population with an imperfect vaccination is proposed and analysed. The model incorporates the classes of vaccinated individuals and individuals equipped with self protection interventions to reduce antibiotic resistant cases. The threshold parameter R 0 , the basic reproduction number, for the analysis of the model is calculated. In the given setting, the model exhibits a backward bifurcation for R 0 < 1. However, if the efficacy of the vaccine is 100% without a waning effect, the model is shown to be without a backward bifurcation and the disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable whenever R 0 < 1. The global sensitivity analysis of the model to variations in parameter values is also performed to determine the most influential parameters on the disease transmission. Moreover, the optimal control analysis of the full model is presented and the optimal intervention strategies are proposed. The proposed intervention strategies are shown to be able to control the disease within a relatively shorter period of time. Finally, numerical experiments are presented to support the theoretical analysis of the model. • Imperfect vaccination is not helpful to eradicate the disease from the population. • Awareness campaign about the antibiotic resistant strain can reduce the transmission of the disease. • Sensitive parameters for the transmission dynamics of the disease are identified. • With the use of the optimal control analysis, cost effective intervention measures are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]