title: The impact of maturation delay of mosquitoes on the transmission of West Nile virus.
abstract: We formulate and analyze a delay differential equation model for the transmission of West Nile virus between vector mosquitoes and avian hosts that incorporates maturation delay for mosquitoes. The maturation time from eggs to adult mosquitoes is sensitive to weather conditions, in particular the temperature, and the model allows us to investigate the impact of this maturation time on transmission dynamics of the virus among mosquitoes and birds. Numerical results of the model show that a combination of the maturation time and the vertical transmission of the virus in mosquitoes has substantial influence on the abundance and number of infection peaks of the infectious mosquitoes.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Disease Modeling, Laboratory of Mathematical Parallel Systems, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada M3J 1P3.
authors.forename: Guihong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Junli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van den Driessche
authors.forename: Jianhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Huaiping
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000821:virology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D009033:Culicidae / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000821:virology*; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development / Q000821:virology; D008954:Models, Biological; D011157:Population Dynamics; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D014902:West Nile virus; D015053:Zygote / Q000254:growth & development / Q000821:virology