Global analysis of a mathematical model for HIV and Hepatitis C virus co-infection

Abstract

Hepatitis C is the leading cause of death among individuals infected with human.Here, we present a deterministic model for HCV and HIV infections transmission anduse the model to assess the potential impact of antiviral therapy. The model isbased on the susceptible-infective-removed-susceptible (SIRS) compartmentalstructure with chronic primary infection and possibility of reinfection. Importantepidemiologic thresholds such as the basic and control reproductionnumbers and a measure of treatment impact are derived. We find that ifthe control reproduction number is greater than unity, there is a locally unstableinfection-free equilibrium and a unique, globally asymptotically stableendemic equilibrium. If the control reproduction number is less than unity, theinfection-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable