Modelling Bovine Tuberculosis in Badgers

Abstract

We use deterministic models to study the spread of bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) infection within badger Meles meles subpopulations. We obtain analytical results for the models and adopt an easy-to-use approach―the Logical Parameter Search (LPS) Method―to generate appropriate parameter values for the model equations. We compare our computer-generated model parameter values with those obtained from the literature and present numerical simulations for the model system, some of which mimic the observed cyclic trend in disease incidence and prevalence as suggested, for example, by Cheeseman et al. (1989)